Well, it's been a crazy week. I finally passed my driving theory test (take that, DVLA!); my laptop died, was repaired, then promptly died again, and is now on the verge of being dropped out of the window since I can't write anything on it; I've entered the Teen Titans Author Idol competition on TitansGonet (like Pop Idol/American Idol, but with TT fanfics! Squee! A competition made for me! I'll let you know how I get on. Is anyone else competing?); I finally got to see an episode of American Dad! and by ironic coincidence, it had not one, not two, but three Teen Titans voice actors in it (Scott Menville, Kevin Michael Richardson and Dee Bradley Baker); and I also learned that a second Teen Titans movie is a now a more distinct possibility than it was before Trouble in Tokyo was released to DVD. Yay! Apparently there is a script, although I don't think there are actually any definite production details.
But there is hope!
Speaking of, you must all be losing hope in me concerning this. I just keep dropping bombshell after bombshell on your heads. Leading you all along, all this time… "Hey, guess what, kids! You know all that stuff? I was just joking!"…
So, um, this is the last nasty plot-twist chapter for a while. But there IS a plot-twist here (yes, another one)!
Without further ado, thankyou to: KGDiva (um, I don't know, what are you going to do with me? perhaps I had better stop with the scary surprises…); Quinn and His Quill (I hope you enjoyed your cookie, Quinn! You deserved it! P.S: It was poisoned…); Dark Austral (ah, hello again! I am glad you liked it! Thankyou!); The GmR (you know, it's funny you should mention that you like Seth… and thankyou for the review, anyways!); Guardian of Azarath (ah, yes, Quinn has been mouthing off about all my so-called hidden plot twists since Day One. Thankfully everybody ignored him. As for Slade… I have NO IDEA about the cartoon version at all); Narroch (go hide in your hurricane bunker, then!); Amara-Chan (the baby? Dealt with right here! No, it hasn't already been resolved…); Jennie (you know what? You're exactly spot on. Seth isn't a genius mastermind. He just thinks he is. But I'm not going to tell you if he wins ultimately or not…); LoopyLousise123 (oh, believe me, there's more…); Coolteenzz (am I going to end the story in 2-3 chapters? Hell, no! We've barely hit the halfway mark! And, uh, yeah, I guess you can make the MV whenever you want!); Me (Seth is villainy, huh? I think he'd appreciate that, being the up-himself asshole that he is…); Kami-Elf (oh yes, so warm and fuzzy! Don't feel bad for not working it all out – no-one did, and I didn't leave very many clues…); Someone (Raven, huh? Yes, people have been lamenting over her for a while now…); Simmie (25th July? Your birthday? Heh heh. And another one who would like Raven back, I presume?); Luneko (a dog who can read? Like Brian from Family Guy! I love Brian. And Family Guy. And, uh, stop exploding your head!).
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the drumroll…
Child of Shadows
Perhaps it had been a vision Seth had managed to implant in his head, but Robin visually see the scene that Seth Elliott described; the dappled sunlight, the cool February air, his own mother, still pregnant with him.
Almost as though he could touch her. Which was bizarre; and not least because she was dead. But because he wasn't exactly present in this scene, as such. He was barely nine months conceived, as such, not a member of the outside world yet.
He didn't want to know how Seth had done it. Any of it. The image in his head.
His… mother…
"Don't look at me like that," Seth snapped, noting the murderous glare Robin was shooting in his direction. "I used to do it to help her; you wouldn't believe the grief you used to give her. You used to keep her up all night by kicking her."
Robin was shaking, disgusted and furious.
"I can't believe you used to… you used to…"
"Yeah, yeah," Seth said dismissively, cutting him off. His eyes seemed to glitter again, accentuated by the flickering light of the candles. "Well, you know the drill; your mother went into labour, you came into the world looking like some kind of gross slimy alien… The joy of birth, right? But let's backtrack for a second; we're getting ahead of ourselves. The November before – your mother had been pregnant with you for four months at this point – something very interesting happened in Azarath, something which I decided to incorporate into my prophecy, to make it so that I won all round."
"And that would be?" Robin asked stiffly.
Seth smiled and threw his second burnt-out cigarette to the floor.
"The birth of your friend Raven, of course," he said. "The birth of Trigon's daughter…" He sighed again. "It would seem that Miss Angela Roth of Gotham City got herself involved in some nasty cult and ended up pregnant with Trigon's spawn. Those annoying, all-loving Azarathians took her in, renamed her "Arella", of all things, and brought her daughter into the world. Despite making up all kinds of nasty prophecies and allsorts about her, they treated Raven, as they named her, with love and care, although she did grow up in solitude, much the way I did. But… As soon as I saw her, already knowing that you were on the way, I knew that I had to get more actively involved in my prophecy. You see, I had been reading it thoroughly, and it had stated that you – the second soul – had to have passed your sixteenth birthday before the Summoning could even be attempted. That gave me another almost-seventeen years of doing nothing, so I began to come up with another plan, tying it into the rules of the prophecy…"
Seth's green eyes misted over for a few seconds; then he looked directly at Robin again, but this time there was no trace of a smile on his face.
"How is she?" He asked, his voice suddenly sharp.
Robin blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." For the first time, Seth seemed impatient. "Raven? How is she?"
Duh…
"I'd forgotten that you knew," Robin replied frostily.
Seth smiled thinly.
"How could I not?"
Robin frowned at that.
"I… what do you mean by that?"
Seth laughed suddenly, the sound taking Robin by surprise.
"Bloody hell, you're slow, aren't you?!" He folded his arms, his gaze fixed solely on Robin again. "That "baby"… Look how fast it's growing, what it's doing to her… Goddamn you, boy, are you fucking retarded?"
Genuinely confused now, Robin scratched his hair
"I… well, we thought that maybe… because I was possessed when it happened, we—"
"Jeez…" Seth's expression was incredulous and he was shaking his head. "For sixteen and a half years I've thought you were intelligent."
"But I—"
"Surely you've figured out by now, Sherlock," Seth interrupted nastily, "that the baby within Raven's womb… is not yours?..."
Robin started at him, not sure that he had heard that right.
"I… but… Of course it's mine!" He burst out. "Me and Raven… we… we… you know!" He demonstrated crudely with his leather-gloved fingers, the effect obscene in a humorous way.
"Yes, you did," Seth agreed airily. "Funny, isn't it? You were taken over by a strange intoxicating desire that you couldn't control…"
"You?" Robin's voice was barely audible.
"Let's hear it for the boy," Seth replied dryly. "Of course it was me, you stupid mortal! You're the one that… got it in, knocked her up, whatever you want to call it… But you didn't impregnate her with your own child; you impregnated her with mine."
"That's not possible," Slade interjected before Robin could reply.
"After fifteen years, Slade – even though it was a lie – haven't you realised that science is inferior to magic?" Seth stated rather than asked, sounding bored. He turned back to Robin. "Okay, let me try and make this as simple as possible, because you're obviously not as smart as I thought you were," he said patronisingly. "That arrow the Slade of your own time shot into you a few weeks ago. I gave it to him – it's the thing that put the demon into you."
"Yes, I worked that part out for myself," Robin replied snippily.
"Good; at least you're keeping up. Now, it wasn't just any demon; it was a special demon, a vessel, if you will, carrying my spawn. It was specifically created by me for the sole purpose of impregnating Raven with my child."
"Why couldn't you just do it yourself?" Robin asked, his masked eyes narrowed. "I thought you could control will."
"A curious thing, it is," Seth mused. "Raven does not trust me as far as she can throw me, and I cannot control her; her mind is very powerful because her power is drawn from it. It would not be wise to go fooling around with it, do you not agree?"
"I guess not," Robin agreed with a shrug.
"So, I started to work on a little love-affair between you two," Seth went on brightly. "I couldn't control her, true, but I could control you. And I used to sneak potions and things into her herbal tea to upset her hormones. That first night you and she… well, you know… Well, you wouldn't believe the amount of junk I put into her tea. Specifically designed, of course, to make her desire you, so that she would grow to trust you in that intimate way. So, when I decided that the time was right, I had that arrow shot into you, with the special demon couplet – carrying my half of the bargain, and also harbouring a lustful desire – so that you would "pass on" the message. Ah, indulgence demons… you really can do no wrong with them. I knew it would work; you were getting an erection just looking at her…"
Robin flushed pink again, pissed off.
"How could you—"
"Oh, there's more," Seth interrupted happily. "That in turn leads to why he-" – he nodded in Slade's direction – "-had to rape you."
Robin tensed. Behind him, so did Slade.
"I led him to believe that it was because your soul had to be sexually tainted, but that wasn't it at all," Seth burbled, sounding very happy. "Nope; it was because bad things – stains on the soul – make it easier for demons to corrupt those whose body they are inhabiting. So although you had already lost your virginity, it wasn't enough. So I set it up for him to cruelly rape you, and lo and behold; look how easily you were possessed. Your entire body began to change, even with the presence of your soul, because you have been so deeply sinned against. If the instance had merely been that you couldn't be a virgin, I would not have bothered, or if I had, I would have forced you both by controlling your wills. I did it prior to the rape, made you kiss and touch and things; I could have made you both desire homosexual practice if I had wanted. But no; that wasn't what I wanted at all…"
There was a terrible silence.
Not waiting for either of them to reply, Seth went on;
"In truth, I don't know how you didn't notice," he said. "You know, about the demon." He gazed fixedly at Robin. "Remember that very nice part, when Raven gave you a lovely gift, one that you aren't really worthy of? That lovely… full-on… blow-job? Remember that, Robin?"
Seth's jaunty tone frightened him and he stepped back, nodding nervously. Yes, he most certainly did; perhaps it was bad and perverted of him, but it was one of his fondest memories.
But Seth's horrible smirk frightened him.
"But… remember what happened?" Seth went on brightly. "Or rather, what didn't happen? It was long and lovely, no doubt about that, but… you didn't come, did you? Strange, is it not?"
Robin nodded slightly, remembering; yes, Seth was right. He hadn't come; in fact, even during that wonderful – demon- and-drugged-tea-fuelled – copulation, it had taken him a very long time. He had thought it a little strange, but had dismissed it, especially considering that he seemed to have gotten Raven pregnant anyway.
"Do you know why it took you so long, Robin?" Seth crooned. "Would you like me to tell you?"
Robin found himself nervously nodding his head even though he didn't really want to know at all.
"Because my sperm – within the demon – had to kill all of yours first. Wouldn't have wanted her to get pregnant with your child, now would we?"
Robin shook his head mutely.
"But… I don't understand…" he whispered. "If you can shape-shift, couldn't you have… just taken my form and done it yourself?"
"Nope," Seth replied cheerfully. "For one thing, if I hadn't had the demon shot into you, would you have come to Azarath in the first place? No. And secondly…"
He trailed off as his form melted, merging into another shape.
Robin's shape.
Within seconds, a duplicate of Robin stood in Seth's place. Although his outfit was different to the one the real Robin was wearing – Seth-Robin was wearing Robin's regular red, green and yellow uniform instead of black leather – Seth's new form was utterly flawless. The other "boy" stood with his hands on his slim hips, a smirk on his face. His hair was styled perfectly – every hair matched the position of Robin's own – and his stature was utterly perfect; exactly the right weight and height. Although his expression wasn't a particularly pleasant one – a nasty, arrogant little smirk – Robin knew he was capable of such an expression himself, so couldn't fault it.
The only thing missing was the crimson staining of blood on the fake-Robin's chin.
"The only problem that I usually have is the eyes," Seth-Robin explained; his voice too mirrored Robin's exactly. "Yours are blue. But because you wear a mask it wouldn't have been a problem for once. However… We're talking about Raven here. She can sense auras. She'd have known a mile off that it wasn't the real you. This could fool anyone else, even your little alien girlfriend. But not Raven."
The nasty smirk deepened, to the point that Robin was quite dismayed to realise that he was capable of looking so evil.
"And yes," Seth-Robin added spitefully; "You are really this ugly…"
He drew a cigarette out of thin air and lit it up with a flick of his fingers; all the while still in Robin's form. And the real Robin stared at him; because he was speechless, and because it looked so… weird…
To see himself. To see himself smoking.
"Smoking's bad for your health," Robin said numbly, simply because he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Seth-Robin snorted, finally melting back into his own form.
"Not when you're already dead," he replied snippily. "When the only thing that keeps you "alive" is the ability to shape-shift and a quarter of your soul, things like smoking can't harm you. A quirk, I suppose."
Robin didn't know how he should feel; on one hand, a weight had lifted – well, slightly – at the revelation that it wasn't his baby; knowing that his demonic possession wasn't the cause of it. On the other hand…
…The fact that it was Seth's baby was considerably worse.
And then he remembered…
"Raven's dead!" He said sharply. He looked briefly at Slade, almost for reassurance. "She was electrocuted, and then Terra collapsed a whole warehouse on top of her! She's dead…"
Seth laughed.
"You think I would be so careless as to allow Raven to die alongside you and your pathetic friends?" He asked, the question rhetorical. "I put a protection charm upon her; the electricity merely knocked her out. She and the baby, you'll be pleased to know, are both fine."
"Then where is she?!" Robin asked desperately. "I saw her! She was dead!"
"I used magic to mask her pulse," Seth answered airily. "You noticed that the baby kicked, even though it should not have been alive if she was dead. I couldn't stop the baby from moving. The corpses of your other friends were, I'm afraid, all too real; but Raven was never dead. Never dead at all. I used necromancy to restore you to life, but I am afraid your other friends were of no use to me, so they were crushed by the traitor Terra."
"You brought me back?" Robin wasn't surprised at that, but puzzled. "But if you need me, as you so obviously do, then why didn't you protect me too? Why… why did you let me die?..."
"I had things to attend to, adding a few finishing touches to my plan," Seth replied lazily. "If I'd left you alive I'd have had to keep an eye on you; dead, and I didn't have to bother about you until I was ready." He paused, then nonchalantly added; "Plus I just wanted to watch you fry."
Robin raised an eyebrow.
"Take it you don't like me much, then…" he muttered darkly.
Again Seth laughed.
"Like you?" He drew on his cigarette. "I despise you, boy; I hate the pair of you. Worthless mortals… you make me sick. But I need you, at least for now… I do, however, greatly anticipate bringing about your highly-deserved demises."
"And it's not my baby?"
Seth's already-pale face whitened considerably.
"As if you would ever be worthy of cultivating your offspring within Trigon's daughter, circus boy," he spat. "You're nothing but mortal filth, utterly worthless but for your soul. You will never be good enough for Raven, and don't ever believe that you will. I have granted you privilege above all others, allowing you to become intimate with her, and I daresay that in your blinding mortal arrogance you merely took her for granted. Indeed, I daresay that once she informed you that she was pregnant – believing as she did that it was yours – your desire for her lessened considerably. A wild guess, perhaps, but you aren't nearly so keen for her to spread her legs now, are you?"
"Don't talk about her like that!" Robin snapped.
Seth seemed surprised at that.
"Me?" He laughed slightly. "Dear boy, I prize Raven higher than anything else, even yours and Slade's souls. As Trigon's daughter, she is worth ten of even me. Why do you think I was so desperate for her to bear my child? Imagine the power that our child will forbear due to its heritage; the grandchild of Trigon, the offspring of Raven and I. Quantity will be unable to measure the power it will be born with, and when I have re-acquired my powers and taken over Azarath once again, we shall raise it among the books and equipment that have taught both her and I so much."
"Re-acquired your powers?" Slade repeated.
"Taken over Azarath?" Robin followed suite.
Seth beamed.
"Of course. Tonight my prophecy shall be fulfilled, and once again Azarath shall be within my grasp. First, however, I shall seek out Arella and destroy her; then I shall turn on Marcus and his precious Senate. I have already killed that wretched Jonathon, of course, and I must admit that I enjoyed it immensely, and also admittedly I am looking forward to dispatching Marcus. Annoying, rule-abiding goody-goody…"
"And what of the girl?" Slade interjected. "And us?"
"Oh, well…" Seth shrugged, his cigarette between his lips again. "That's simple. You, Slade, I shall kill when I am done with you. Raven, of course, will become my queen when I take over Azarath. And Robin…" He turned his malicious gaze on the Boy Wonder. "I have something special planned for you…"
"Yeah?" Robin replied frostily.
Seth nodded, smiling brightly.
"Naturally. But we must wait a little while longer; the time is not yet upon us, and we still have much to discuss."
"I want to see Raven," Robin demanded. "I want to see if she's really ok."
"Patience, circus boy," Seth chided him. "You will see her; that much I will bequeath to you."
"The perhaps you will explain to us the clash of time zones," Slade cut in acidly. "Why you have brought the boy here, to a time where he does not belong."
"I have engineered this perfectly," Seth replied. "It has taken much time to become perfect, and there have been flaws that I have struggled to fix. I knew that this could not possibly be done across one time fracture, because there was too much to be done. Instead, I have flitted back and forth between this time and a time fifteen years previous to this one, the present of Robin's. There are things that have happened in Robin's time that did not happen here; for instance, Raven's impregnation. The Raven of this time merely died alongside the other three Teen Titans, while the Robin of this time was delayed from reaching the warehouse, thus being saved. Meanwhile, in a time fifteen years previous – one running parallel to this – the Raven I had set my sights on had just turned one year old. Similarly, the "Avenger" I chose was the Robin of the past, for the simple reason that the prophecy states that the Second Soul must not be of an adult age, as in younger than twenty-one, but older than sixteen. It is very specific, and therefore you fit the bill perfectly. Of course, that ruled the Robin, or "Nightwing", of this time out, for now he would be thirty-one. However, the time for the fulfilment draws ever nearer in this time, so I arranged for Robin to be brought here to play his part. Meanwhile, I believe the "Robin" of this time met his maker three years ago?"
Slade nodded curtly in confirmation.
"However," Seth went on, breezily, "I needed to begin the cycle again in the past, so around a month and half ago I appeared to the fifteen-year-younger Slade of Robin's time in the museum, the way I did to you all those years ago. He took to it in the same fashion that you did, raping the Robin who now stands here on my command. That, however, is where the similarity between the two "prophecies" ends; in Robin's time I began to add to it, preparing for the impregnation of Raven. I instructed the Slade of Robin's time to shoot the arrow into him, inflicting him with the demon possession, something which did not happen in this time. The consequential visit to Azarath and everything else that went with it… all of it is a new feature, if you will, to history."
"So time-travel is one of your powers?" Slade queried lazily.
"Nope." Seth fished the gold watch out of his pocket, showing it to them. "This little beauty is the sister-piece to the Clock of Eternity; the Watch of Infinity. I stole-- acquired it many years ago, for this very purpose."
"And the clock itself?" Robin pressed. "If you're the "Master of Time", then you admitted to being responsible for bringing me here. How did you do it? What did you do to the Clock of Eternity?"
"Oh, that." Seth gestured profusely with his cigarette, a trail of grey wispy smoke following the movement of his hand. "I "fixed" that clock months ago, during your battle with Warp. I removed a gear from it and played around with it so that it would be activated at precisely the right time, and at your touch."
His eyes glinted.
"And, in fact, the gear was very briefly in your possession," he went on cheerfully.
Robin blinked.
"It was? When?"
"In Azarath. Raven gave it to you; I slipped it under her pillow one night, knowing that she would eventually pass it on. And then, if you remember, you traded it."
Robin's masked eyes widened.
"To you," he breathed.
Seth went into one of his pockets and extracted the tiny glinting silver gear on its leather cord.
"Had to stop you from getting home, didn't I?"
He slipped it back into his pocket as Robin watched, aghast. If only he'd realised, he wouldn't have swapped it for this stupid, useless necklace…
"I'll be wanting the key back now, while we're at it," Seth said suddenly.
Again Robin blinked in surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"The key," Seth repeated impatiently, holding out his free hand to receive it. "You've done a good job looking after it, but I'll be needing it back."
"Key?" Robin asked, confused.
"Look, we've already established that you're thick, boy," Seth snapped. "The key to the Orb of Azarath. Now do yourself a little justice and hand the damn thing over before I tear it from you."
"The key to…?" Robin frowned, stepping back from him. "But I don't have it!"
Seth smiled twistedly.
"Yes you do," he said calmly. "It's hanging around your neck."
Robin slowly looked down at the Blood Diamond, kicking himself mentally.
Duh…
Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite so stupid and useless…
And it was essential that he didn't give it back to Seth.
"Why did you have the key to the orb?" He questioned, stalling. "Obviously Arella never intended for it to fall into your possession."
Seth shrugged.
"An interesting question. I suppose I-- Slade, you moron!"
Seth lunged forwards, his black hair whipping behind him, as Slade suddenly grappled Robin from behind, bringing them both to the floor. Robin tried to wrestle him off, but Slade was stronger and heavier and it was near impossible.
"Give me the damn key, boy!" Slade hissed, his gloved hand enclosing around the red diamond at Robin's neck. "Do you realise… how long I've searched… for it?!"
"It's not… real!" Robin gasped in reply, attempting to pull it back from Slade's grip. "You won't get the power he promised you! It's all a lie!"
Then, just as suddenly, Slade's weight was torn from Robin with such force that the thin chain snapped; the diamond on its broken chain went skittering across the candle-lit floor, eventually coming to a halt near the Orb of Azarath itself, right in the middle of the powder circle.
Seth swore and started for it; seeing him, Robin swept one of his legs out, taking Seth's feet from beneath him. The ex-Head Senator collapsed heavily, his startled cry being cut short as his chin met the concrete floor with a sickening crack.
Ignoring him – although he knew how it felt, as his own chin was stained crimson from a similar experience – Robin leapt over him, darting towards the circle.
Get the orb, smash it…
He grabbed the Blood Diamond – the key – first, whipping around to get the orb too.
He came face to face with Seth.
Seth grabbed him by the throat, and the man was far stronger than he looked.
"Give me the fucking key, you mortal scum," he said calmly.
Robin relinquished his grip on the key, and it fell to the floor again, unsettling the powder somewhat. Satisfied, Seth whispered something that Robin couldn't hear, then threw him backwards. The boy landed in a tangled heap and struggled to right himself. He painfully got to his feet, noticing suddenly that…
…His legs were cold…
Looking down, he barely stifled his shriek. His whole black leather outfit had gone; in its place was his uniform.
But not his current one.
And at sixteen, shorty-pants didn't look quite so cute.
Yes, the entire outfit. Red button-down tunic; yellow cape with a polo-shirt collar; short pants; pixie boots.
On a sixteen year old boy.
He looked up at Seth, utterly aghast; the man, his mouth streaming blood in the same way that Robin's was, simply smirked.
He winked at him.
"Cute legs, Robin," he murmured spitefully.
"Change it back!" Robin spat furiously, his cheeks hot and flushed with embarrassment.
Seth raised his eyebrows.
"Don't give me orders," he replied icily, "or you'll be wearing nothing at all." He relit his cigarette from one of the candles, as it had gone out when he had fallen, then healed his mouth with a mere flick of his fingers. He wiped away the blood but his hand came away bloodless, and took another draw of his cigarette as though nothing had happened.
"Right, I think that could have been a lot easier," he mused, holding up the key on its broken chain. He whispered another enchantment and it repaired itself even as Robin watched. He slipped it into his pocket along with the gear and smiled indulgently at the Boy Wonder. After regarding him thoughtfully for a moment or two, he crossed to him, clamping his cigarette between his teeth; using both hands, he styled the shocked boy's hair without the aid of gel, pushing it flat and neat, twisting two cowlicks with his fingers.
The way Alfred used to style it for school.
Robin shook him off and turned to him, angry beyond belief. He attempted to mess it up again, just out of spite, but found that, although it was still soft and moveable, he couldn't get it out of that neat style; it simply fell back into place whenever he ran his fingers aggressively through it.
"What did you do?!" Robin wailed in frustration.
Seth grinned.
"Got rid of your "Dark, Tough and Brooding" look," he replied simply. "You are no threat to me, human, but I think your black biker clothes made you feel that maybe you were. Funny, the illusions self-image conjures…" He grasped the collar of Robin's cape, pulling him into him, to the extent that Robin's feet were practically clear from the floor. "But despite the costume, Boy Wonder," he added nastily, "rest assured that Batman will not be coming to your rescue this time."
He laughed, tossing Robin back to the candle-lit concrete floor.
"Why, in this time, dear Brucie is quite mad," he went on, dragging on his cigarette. "Utterly loopy, all because of grief." His eyes narrowed as his green gaze fixed on Robin again. "All because of you."
Robin slowly and gingerly got to his feet; Seth snorted in response.
"I wouldn't bother if I were you," he said.
As though Robin cared what he thought.
He looked around for the tonfas, suddenly noticing the absence of Slade.
Had he grabbed the orb and escaped? In this wild situation, Robin found himself hoping that he had; knowing the "prophecy" wasn't real, it didn't matter if Slade had it anymore. It wasn't like he could do anything with it.
But no… Robin's heart sank. The Orb of Azarath was still there, in the centre of the powder circle.
Glittering mockingly.
"I'm sure he hasn't gone far," Seth said cheerfully, as though…
…reading his mind…
A sharp battle cry from Slade confirmed that assumption; Slade seemed to appear out of nowhere, his entire flowing movement like lightning as he launched a flying roundhouse right into the small of Seth's back. With a startled cry of both pain and surprise, the ex-Senator was pitched forwards, tumbling and landing in a crumpled heap.
Slade came to Robin's side as Seth, over ten feet away, struggled to his feet.
"I am by no means done with you, boy," he informed him quietly, "but for now it would seem that we must unite in the face of a common enemy."
Robin nodded, not looking at his arch-enemy, and attempted to shake his hair out of its neat style.
It might as well have been held in place by Superglue, for all the good it did.
Seth straightened up and faced them, no longer smiling. Down the right side of his pale face was a deep gash, the flesh torn away by the concrete of the floor, streaming blood.
He did not bother to heal himself.
His green eyes were blazing with that white/blue light so commonly associated with him.
Slade recognised it as the "seer's" power; Robin recognised it as Seth's own.
Both of them recognised it to be a bad thing.
Slade snapped his retractable bo staff from his belt; instinctively, Robin copied him.
The utility belt of his "new" costume was empty.
Of course; the weapons in his own belt had been taken when Seth had "changed" his clothes. That was probably why Seth had done it.
Seeing his predicament – and through a rare act of… well, compassion – Slade handed him the bo staff.
Robin blinked.
"What? But you-"
"I'll get the kobujutsu," Slade interrupted irritably, thrusting the staff into his hands. "Cover my back."
A strange request to pass between two such as these, but in their present situation Robin couldn't argue. Whether they liked it or not, he and Slade were together now. Seth had lied to them both, tricked them both, used them both, simply because he needed their matching souls for a real prophecy of his own. Robin might have suffered more for it – being needlessly raped, possessed and killed – but both he and Slade were victims.
Together.
"And let's hope that costume is as deceiving as it looks," Slade added smoothly, his voice soft and malicious. "Because right now, boy, you don't look as though you could kick over a house of cards."
"Don't bet on it," Robin muttered. "I could kick in your head…"
Slade smiled behind his mask.
"I'm sure you'd like to…"
Without waiting for Robin to offer a snippy reply, Slade dashed forwards again, slicing a hook kick at Seth's neck. Seth avoided it, his robe and long dark hair whipping around his form as he did so. He turned sharply to face Slade, only to have his head snapped back by the other man's elbow. Seth staggered and Slade took the opening, darting across the room for the kobujutsu. Meanwhile, Robin took that to be his cue; his neat hair stayed precisely in place as he somersaulted, clutching Slade's staff, and launched a drop kick at Seth's collarbone. He landed and snapped a lightning-fast switch kick at Seth's mid-section, pixie boot catching the ex-Senator just below his ribcage. A third kick followed, throwing Seth to the concrete floor.
Throughout the entire assault, Seth had not uttered a sound; he not shown any inkling of apparent pain or damage.
Robin felt Slade's presence at his side again but did not turn to him; instead his gaze was fixated on Seth.
The ex-Head Senator – half demon, whatever he was – simply got to his feet. Despite the blood streaming down the side of his face, his smile was back in place.
Aside from that, he did not seem to be hurt in any way.
"I think we might have a problem here," Robin murmured; Slade grunted and nodded slightly in reply.
"Bad idea, boys," Seth said airily, his eyes glowing again. "Really bad idea…"
His fingertips glowed that ghostly blue/white too, and Robin recognised the momentum of the power growing from watching Starfire unleash her starbolts. Panicking, he threw his entire weight into Slade, bringing them both crashing to the hard concrete floor just as the blaze of lethal blue energy shot over their heads.
Slade aggressively shoved him off, gripping the dark kobujutsu as he got to his feet. Seconds later Robin scrambled to his feet also, and once again they faced off against Seth Elliott.
He smiled indulgently.
"Nice save, Robin," he drawled. "A true example of the quick thinking you usually exhibit. That really could have been quite tragic…"
Robin's masked eyes narrowed, and he blew his cowlicks from them; Seth smirked at him.
"Gosh, isn't the last hour of your lives fun?" He gushed. "I mean, it's hardly boring, now is it?"
"You aren't using us for your prophecy," Slade replied coldly. "Either of us."
Seth snorted.
"That's what you think…"
Slade started for him again, the kobujutsu deadly in his hands; Seth actually seemed to be having trouble dodging it. Seeing that Slade had him on the ropes – or foolishly assuming that he did – Robin too joined the fray, fitting into Slade's attack pattern in the same way as two stacked spoons. Where one drew back the other attacked, and together they furiously beat him down, beat him back—
—Seth reached up suddenly and caught both staffs in each of his hands. He whispered something in Azarathian as Slade and Robin attempted to tug them back from him; they were both sent sprawling backwards as both staffs turned to silk scarves, one black, one scarlet.
Robin was the faster at getting to his feet and – foolishly, weaponlessly – he made for Seth again, already leaping and twisting his whole body into the kick—
The scarves flew from Seth's fingers as though caught in a tornado, knotting themselves together to form one long length. The entire thing, extremely long and deceivingly strong, wrapped around Robin in mid-air and tightened, binding him completely. He fell from the air to the floor, where he squirmed and struggled against his bindings.
But Robin wasn't down quite yet; he still had his power, his control over electricity… It gathered impetus within him and he could feel it crackling throughout his entire body as it built up, heating his blood, making stray soft hairs stand up on end…
He put every ounce of it into the surge, driving every last volt from his body purely by a will that came too easily to him, straight at Seth. It caught the senator full-on, his entire body locking up as thousands of volts coursed through him. His long black hair seemed to stiffen, his fingers curled and froze up, his head went back and his scream was lost within the incessant buzzing that came with Robin's attack...
Standing aside, Slade – the supposed "bad guy" of this picture – found himself hoping against hope that the little bastard finished the other bastard off for good…
The last volt crackled from Robin's spent body and he went limp, still bound, his masked eyes closed and his breathing taxed. Slade didn't come to his side to untie him, however, but the exhausted Boy Wonder wasn't surprised at that. No matter; if Seth was dead – and there was no way he couldn't be – then he would have time to work himself free.
The sound of Seth's soft laughter made his eyes snap open again and he attempted to sit up; tied as tightly as he was by the strong silk, he had no hope.
Still Slade didn't come to help him.
"Stupid mortal," Seth purred; far from being "fried", as Seth had so sensitively put it earlier, the ex-Head Senator was utterly unscathed. Not one shiny ebony hair was out of place; in fact, during the time of his "electrocution", he even seemed to have healed his cheek.
Immaculate.
"Did you really think you could kill me like that?" He crooned mockingly. His handsome expression hardened. "I'm already dead, you little fucker; and let me tell you something…"
Seth crouched down next to the bound Robin and placed two fingers on his forehead, right between his cowlicks. Robin struggled to no avail, the horrible smirk on Seth's face frightening him more than anything else he had ever witnessed.
"I gave you that power," Seth whispered, beginning to draw an Azarathian symbol on Robin's forehead with his fingertips. "I gave it to you to stop you from killing yourself all over again; by allowing the electricity to use you as a channel, there was no way you could touch something wet or made of metal and electrocute yourself again. And what's more, now that you've used it all up…"
He finished the symbol and removed his fingers; as he did so an agonizing pain ripped through Robin's forehead, near blinding him, and he could feel… something… being torn from him, out through the invisible white-hot symbol on his skin…
"…I can take it away again," he finished softly, getting back to his feet and leaving Robin to shake off the feeling. Once again, the mortal boy was merely… mortal…
"Foolish boy," he muttered, walking away. "Your arrogance blinds you; you simply cannot beat me, either of you… After all, you're only humans…"
He paused at the edge of the circle, looking around, ignoring Robin's wriggles and grunts as he tried to free himself.
Searching for Slade, who had – once again – pulled a disappearing act.
Only this time the Orb of Azarath too was gone; only the silver cradle remained in the middle of the crimson-powder circle.
Seth burst out laughing and, instead of beginning to search for the once-again elusive villain, lit himself up yet another cigarette.
"I don't know where you think you're going with that, my little rapist," he mused to the empty – albeit Robin - room, laughing still. "You can't do anything with it; all those promises of power were nothing but empty lies…"
Robin frowned, pausing in his regime of struggling; Seth was talking as though Slade was still here. Did that mean he still was? Despite himself, Robin found himself hoping that Slade had got away; if he could destroy the orb, then Seth couldn't use it to get his powers back…
Seth had his back to him, but the Boy Wonder could hear him whispering yet another Azarathian incantation, scantly see the fleeting, graceful movement of his fingers, cigarette smoke trailing behind his right hand as it sailed through the air.
From beyond him suddenly burst bright light, as though a hole had been torn within the very air in front of the senator, leading straight to Heaven. Seth calmly put one arm into this tear, gripped something… and hauled Slade out by his upper right arm, throwing him to the concrete floor. Behind him, the unknown "portal" closed, fading from existence as though it had simply never been there.
"You can't escape me, mortal," Seth said calmly, standing over him, drawing on his cigarette. "Thought you were pretty smart, huh?" Seth shook his head, smiling. "There is no escape for you now, Slade; for you or Richard Grayson. Arella purloined you into a prophecy some seven hundred years ago, choosing the two most unlikely types of candidates to produce a match, hoping that I would never find you both. Since the very second you were conceived I have monitored you, watched over you, assuring that you would be here tonight – right here, right now – for this very purpose. I have controlled your entire lives, played you both like puppets… There is nothing left for you now; for either of you. You were both born for this purpose, and I shall personally see to it that you fulfil your destinies."
His terrible smile deepened, looking briefly over at the still-struggling Robin before averting his gaze back to Slade.
"This is the end, gentlemen. For both of you."
He held out his hand to the fallen Slade, but he was certainly not offering to help him up.
"The Orb of Azarath, if you would be so kind," he said coolly, his cigarette sticking out of the corner of his mouth.
Slade hesitated.
"I can force you to give it to me if you do not cooperate," Seth murmured dangerously, his eyes glittering. "You both know I can…"
He didn't need to; Slade went into one of the leather pouches of his belt and pulled out the tiny glittering stone ball.
"Slade, don't give it to him!" Robin said desperately, forgetting his binds for the moment.
"Be quiet, Richard, lest I take your voice from you," Seth told him calmly, not turning to the boy. "I can do it, you know…"
"You can take what you like from me," Robin spat. "I'm not letting you fulfil this prophecy…"
Seth actually turned to face him this time, an expression of amusement on his pale, handsome face.
"Oh, I am quite sure that there are certain things you would not wish me to… relieve you of," he mused, a nasty smile playing around his mouth. He raised an eyebrow; "Your clothes, for instance, or that certain other thing that you could not really be classed as the "Boy" Wonder without…"
Robin's eyes narrowed at that remark, forcing himself not to appear as alarmed as he was by it.
"You wouldn't dare."
Seth smiled.
"Do not tempt me, Richard, when you know so little of my tendencies. If you value your genitals more than you do a foolishly-voiced dare – as I am quite sure you do – then I suggest you keep your mouth shut."
He turned back to Slade, who had barely moved at all during the senator's bitchy exchange with the bound Boy (for which reason he was now remaining silent) Wonder.
"The orb, you bastard human," Seth said calmly, holding out his hand for it again.
Slade hesitated again, then grudgingly handed it over.
"Thankyou," Seth said curtly, gripping it tightly in his cigarette-less hand.
He promptly kicked Slade in the ribs and something snapped distinctly, making the man double up, and whipped back around to face Robin, slipping the orb into his pocket with the key.
"Your particular destiny is almost upon you," he mused softly. "Perhaps I should share with you what it actually is."
"Don't bother," Robin spat in reply. "I'm not doing anything to help you."
Seth smirked.
"Oh, I think you will, once you are aware of the… circumstances…"
Robin snorted.
"Not likely, you freaking demon…"
Seth's pale face grew whiter than ever.
"You insult me, mortal, when I can so easily dispose of you?"
Robin wriggled against the silk scarves binding him, then shrugged.
"Well, yeah," he replied nonchalantly. "Because you won't. You need me."
He suddenly felt the tightness of the scarves ease, then realised that they were no longer binding him. However, Seth reached down and roughly hauled him to his feet by the collar of his yellow cape, throwing him up against the wall of the tiny room.
His green eyes were blazing.
"I assure you, human scum, that your arrogance will be your demise," the senator promised quietly, his every syllable shaking.
His fear suddenly draining from him, being overridden by anger and deliberate-obtuseness, Robin returned his gaze, his deep blue eyes behind his mask unblinking.
"I'm not afraid of you," he revelated calmly.
Seth's blazing eyes faded back to their usual green, but he did not smile.
"You will be by the time I'm done with you," he whispered. He slammed the boy against the wall a second time. "And I'm not a demon, you worthless mortal…"
He looked briefly behind him at Slade, who was knelt on the floor, one hand clutching at his ribcage.
"Ugh, the pair of you make me retch," Seth went on. "Good-for-nothing humans; I really don't know why you bother living, you're all so worthless… Arella would have chosen the souls to be mortal; I can't even get a good fight out of you before I kill you. But yet here you both are, bound together only by a prophecy that states that you are similar…"
"I'm nothing like him," Robin spat, nodding sharply in Slade's direction.
Seth laughed.
"Of course you are!" He burst out, sounding incredulous. "Would you even be here if you weren't? Those dreams, the hallucination in Arkham Asylum… what were they about? You being like him! It's your deepest fear, but only so because you are afraid that it will come true. Your souls are matched, bound… No matter what you do, Robin, all the good deeds, all the saving lives, all the righteous crime-fighting… No matter what you do, you'll always be like him, and the same applies to him. There's nothing either of you can do about it…"
"I'm not helping you!" Robin snapped, struggling against Seth's grip on his collar.
Seth's expression hardened once again.
"You will, boy, whether you want to or not," he said flatly. "This is what you were conceived to do, and I'll be damned if you leave this place alive. I have perfected everything just to ensure that you would be here tonight, working clear across two time zones, tweaking history… You can't escape me, mortal, or anything I have planned for you. I've watched you your entire life, I know how you think; I know everything about you, Richard John Grayson, everything. I can remember your birth – not a pretty sight, I must admit - and your first word, I can remember the first time your father took you up onto the high wire; I can remember every detail of the expression on your face as you watched your parents fall to their deaths eight years ago… I know of every tear that has ever fallen from your oh-so-blue eyes, every word that has ever graced your lips, every thought that has ever entered your mind…"
His dark, deep smirk returned.
"And all the bad things… All the things you would not ever tell anyone; some of those naughty, testosterone-fuelled dreams you've had, the terrible, dark, even suicidal thoughts that sometimes cross your mind, your deepest fears and secrets… I know them all, Richard. I even know about your first-ever little jerk-off session. How old were you? Twelve?"
"Eleven."
Robin could have kicked himself as soon as he said it, but it had slipped out before he could stop himself.
"Oh, of course. Couldn't help yourself, could you? Guess you didn't really know what you were doing, just… experimenting… Barbara Gordon, wasn't it?" Seth sighed in mock-wist. "Can't deny it, that one's a stiffener…"
"Don't talk about Babs like that," Robin spat, clawing at the hand with which Slade was tightly grasping his collar.
Seth snorted.
"Why not? She's just another mortal, as worthless as you, as worthless as your precious Batman… I hate humans…"
"Gosh, really?" Sarcasm overriding, Robin widened his eyes in feigned surprise as he spoke. "You should make it more obvious, I couldn't tell…"
Seth slammed him against the wall a third time, then threw him to the floor, where the Boy Wonder landed in a crumpled heap.
"You're a cocky one, circus-boy," he mused savagely as Robin struggled to his knees. "But even that smart mouth of yours won't save you now…"
He looked from the boy to Slade, then back again, eyeing them both with equal distaste.
"And rest assured; once you have both served your purposes, you shall be sentenced to the eternity of pain and despair that you both rightfully deserve…"
"But enough about you two," he went on, his tone suddenly brightening considerably. "I tire of speaking of your wretched fates; it's enough to depress anybody…" He clapped his hands together. "This tale bores me; it lacks excitement. I think what it needs is a little sex…"
His long thin fingers danced again as he summoned that same glowing vortex – a portal to, it seemed, nowhere - and reached deep within it once again. He gripped something and hauled the small form out by her wrist.
Her deep violet eyes were unusually bright, her pale skin a little flushed, as though she was hot. In place of the clothes she had "died" in – too-big cast-offs of Robin's and her cloak – she now wore a floor-length glowing crimson dress, sleeveless and low-cut, enhancing the enticing fullness of her hips and breasts, with a matching hooded cloak similar to her own, but that same glittering crimson. The material of the gown was very tight, clinging to her immensely-swollen abdomen; she was even bigger than she had been those few days ago. That didn't seem possible, and he stared at her stomach in disbelief, but it was true. She looked about ready to go into labour.
In just over a week.
A platinum ring resided on the ring finger of her right hand, a glowing ruby crowning the gothic-twisted band of precious metal.
Seth's idea of a wedding ring?
Not bloody likely…
Seth released her wrist, instead moving behind her. With utmost care he slipped the Blood Diamond out of his pocket and threaded the glittering chain around her throat, clasping it under her hair. It matched her ring, and the tiny gemstone on her ashma chakra.
She didn't react; her silent gaze was on Robin. The boy was on the floor, staring up at her still in disbelief.
"And voilá…" Seth murmured his green gaze too on the fallen, speechless Boy Wonder.
"The object of desire," he mused softly. "The princess, if you will." He slipped his hands around her, coming to rest on her swollen stomach. "I suppose her already being pregnant devalues her a little, but I'm not one to complain."
He smiled.
"Not when it's my child she carries…"
He kissed her pale cheek, and in his arms Trigon's daughter shivered a little.
Her sad gaze still on Robin.
As though she still believed he could make it all better.
TT
Alright? ALRIGHT?
Raven is back! She's in the house, she has returned, the story is no longer Raven-less…
I can't promise you she's going to be okay, but there! She isn't dead! Are we satisfied?
Quinn and others who worked out the key (the Blood Diamond); more cookies! Congrats!
Oh, yeah, here's an amusing thing before I leave you all in peace; I did a "Mary Sue Test" on Seth and he came out as an Uber Sue. Mwa ha ha. I was affronted at first but now I think it's hilarious… He was doing rather well until I got to the section where I had to tick boxes for powers and then he just died…
Although the person up there who calls themselves simple "Me" (even though you DO have a pen-name! I know you do!) sent me a link to a Teen Titans version of the Mary Sue test and he didn't come out as a Mary Sue on that (mainly because he's not a self-insert "new Titan" with a troubled past and extraordinary power that s/he can't control, and has a romance with Robin/Raven/Beast Boy/all five Titans…).
So I just thought it was amusing, since no-one has EVER complained about Seth (or Marcus, or Jonathon) ever being Mary Sues.
Anyways, no more terrifying plot twists… for now.
TTYS!
RobinRocks xXx
P.S: Hey, if there are any other competitors in TitansGonet's Author Idol, let me know! I am interested to see who I am up against…