OMG! Mucho stuff! Fiiiiiirst… I got through Round One of Author Idol on TGN! Yay! It was tight – I think I have some very good competition and the girl role-playing as Simon Cowell is very good at it. So you know that means she ripped it to shreds. -- Still, I'm through, so… My entry is called Jillionaire and if you have me on Author Alert you'll have noticed that I just posted it up. We're allowed to after it's been judged, so I thought I'd put it up so anybody interested can see my entry. Alternately, if you toddle on over to the TGN Forum itself, you can see all 36 entries and the judges' comments. Some of them are… ouch. O.o At least I didn't get told to go back to 4th grade writing class…
Second, the "laptop saga" has finally reached an end. My dad bought me a beautiful new one which I like very much indeed. It's the new Toshiba Satellite with the brand new Windows Vista system. It is SO awesome. Anyone else who has Windows Vista will know all the stuff the new system can do. I have clocks, calendars and "sticky-notes" on my desk-top (with my fanfic To-Do List on it…), the "My Pictures" file icon shows an unbelievably teeny tiny thumbnail version of the first picture in the folder, which happens to be the scanned-up version of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" chapter title page from Black Magic (it is SO cute!), and there's an inclusive game on there called Purble Place. It sucks and is for like, 5 year olds, but it's the principle – it's got really good graphics…
Um, well, enough about the laptop. I still miss my old one, but it died a messy death, so I don't think I'll be seeing that again. There go some perfectly good metallic Justice League stickers… On the other hand, a new laptop means somewhere to finally stick my glittery puffy Batman: The Animated Series stickers!
Oh, and according to me, it is still March. I couldn't put up with looking at Mas y Menos for a whole month, so I've gone back to March (Robin). When May rolls around (Cyborg) I'll change it. And not a moment before.
Thankyous go out to: Amara-Chan (I think a lot of people are glad Raven is back…); Yami-Tai (yup, you were right about Seth's name, and a lot of other things too!); KG-Diva (thankyou! You are so much kinder than Simon Cowell over at Author Idol!); Someone (jeez, you're like "Me: Part Two"… Robin is being a bit idiotic at the moment, but he is way out of his depth… He'll be back to his usual ass-kicking self soon!); Halfdemongirl (hello. Haven't seen you for a while. Nice to have you back. Just stop eating all the cookies…); Guardian of Azarath (if you figured out the Blood Diamond was the key, then a cookie for you, my friend!); Quinn and His Quill (yes, you've been right about a lot so far, although I suspect Zac may have had something to do with at least some of it…); Jennie (it made you squee and snerk. Did it make you squick too (because I love that word…):D I'm glad you enjoyed the necromancy and I hope your Easter was at least slightly restful…); Simmie (I don't know about winning Author Idol – Simon was soooo mean… And yeah! Raven! Whoo!); Ray1 (Slade and Robin might have a word or two with Seth.. if they can manage to get near enough to him without getting smacked…); Crazy Insomniac (if people could vote in Author Idol, I might have a better chance of winning. Unfortunately I am at the mercy of Simon. Oh woe! Although a Nobel Prize would be nice too…); Me (um, well, I hope you managed to glue your brain back together. You probably need something like that…); The GmR (well, uh… you liked it, then?); Dark Austral (oh, there's always a drama with Robin. The title "So the Drama" is completely wasted on Kim Possible, as cool as the show is…); Kami-Elf (okay, okay, calm down. You don't like Seth. Got it.); and Athena's Wings (another old face! Nice to have you back too! Seth, oh Seth… yeah, he has a lot to answer for…).
Right…
Truth is Beauty
Gotham City; October, sixteen years ago -
Summer in Gotham was always short; at the most, three months of real sunshine. Even fall, as it was now, harboured conditions usually associated with the much-harsher season of winter.
Circus trailers weren't warm, as a rule, and now, at 8:30pm, it was cold and dark outside, and a little of that coldness crept inside.
A fan-heater rested at Mary Grayson's feet as she sat in her chair, mending a rip in John's red "Flying Graysons" embossed leotard; another one was in Dick's – she had gotten her way – room, heating it up.
He had been exactly eight months old a few days ago, and ever since that day in March, when he had been given to them four days prior to his due date, Mary and John Grayson had been utterly besotted and enthralled by their baby son.
He was asleep right now, but she would go and wake him in a minute to bath him and give him his last feed.
John was over at the Big Top, checking the lighting with Pop Haley – there had been a problem with it, apparently. But he would be back soon, so she thought it best to try and get his leotard fixed before then; he might need it for tomorrow, and looking after Dick was such a 24-7 job she might not get any other time…
In the small adjoining room, lit only by a night-light, Richard John "Dick" Grayson was sitting up in his cot, far from asleep. He had awoken a few minutes ago, and had since then decided that it was far more exciting being awake. He was a peaky little thing, with pale skin and a shock of jet black hair, which was messy from where he had been fast asleep. He had his mother's eyes; large, almond-shaped deep pools of azure, and they were bright with intelligence and interest as he looked around. His fleecy romper suit was red and green, wrinkled and with a stain on the front where he had spat out the first mouthful of his dinner because he didn't like it.
All of his toys – he had far too many of them, all gifts from the other circus members – were in a cardboard box in the corner, apart from a red and yellow fluffy stegosaurus, which he was slapping experimentally from a distance with his chubby little fingers.
It wasn't responding to his abuse.
He picked the dinosaur up and hugged it for a bit, then bashed it a few times against the bottom of his cot, holding it by the red felt plates on its back.
No response.
He put the dinosaur aside and looked up.
A man was leaning over the end of his cot, his arms folded across the top of the headboard; there was a cigarette held carelessly in one hand. Long ebony hair fell in shining layered spikes around his face and shoulders, contrasting against the long purple robe – with a stiff, extended Dracula-esque collar – he wore open over the rest of his outfit; blue All-American jeans and a tight-fitting black t-shirt. He wore black, slightly-pointed biker boots on his feet, and black leather gloves on his long, slim hands.
A crimson jewel on a thin silver chain hung at his neck, and a heavy gold pocket watch dangled from the breast pocket of his violet robe.
His emerald eyes glittered.
He did not look a day older than twenty-four.
Seth Elliott smiled down at the eight-month-old baby in his cot.
"Hello, Richard," he purred, sounding pleased with himself. "My word, every time I see you you've grown so much bigger…"
He drew on his cigarette as the little boy looked up at him, his head on one side.
Seth came to this time often to check on the boy – the Richard Grayson he had chosen to play the much-needed part in the prophecy – and it was true; he had grown every time. He had witnessed the child's birth – on hand in case complications occurred – on that four-days-early date in March, shortly before departing to Azarath to be made Head of the Azarathian Senate. Eight months on, he was well into the job, enjoying the power and freedom it granted him, while Richard Grayson grew. It would be a long time yet before the prophecy – in a time fifteen years on from this one – would be ready to be fulfilled. Until then, this little boy had a hard life ahead of him.
Seth knew, because he had seen the "Robin" of the other time already go through it. He was seventeen now, still recovering from the deaths of his friends, but he was useless to Seth and his needs; quite simply, he was fifteen years older than Seth needed him to be. But he had lost his parents aged eight years old, been taken on as the ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne and the sidekick of Batman, had gone on to become the leader of the Teen Titans, and had let them die at Slade's hand…
This "Robin" still had all that to come.
That, and a whole lot more that Seth had planned for him.
Seth extinguished his cigarette on the palm of his hand and slipped the dead smoke into his pocket. He then reached into the cot and picked Dick up. The little boy did not struggle – more reaching up to be lifted – but that was only because Seth was controlling his will, forcing him not to start crying. He was only eight months old, true, but Richard Grayson was very intelligent. Even now, with his infant will submerged, the look in his blue eyes was almost… one of mistrust.
Seth brought him to his chest and held him there gently, rocking him. Immediately the baby yawned, his eyes fluttering before closing. Seth relinquished the hold over the boy's will, allowing him to become merely drowsy. He was practically asleep already.
Seth was not indifferent to him; in truth, he rather liked the feeling of the little boy in his arms. His tiny heart fluttered like a caged nightingale, his ribs were so thin and flexible they felt like plastic BBQ skewers beneath his flesh. His whole form was so small and warm and soft that Seth could have – admittedly – stood there and held him all night. He truly was a lovely-looking baby, with the same jet-black hair, brilliant blue eyes and pale, heart-shaped face he would carry through with him to his teenage years and beyond.
But it was only his longing for a child of his own that made him feel this way. But not just any child; no, it had to be special. He had already planned it all out, but he would have to wait sixteen years in this time before he could get it underway. As well as playing his own role in the prophecy, Dick Grayson was to be a "vessel" of sorts, to be used to impregnate Trigon's daughter, still too only a baby at the moment. At almost a year old, Raven was four months older than Dick, and already walking and beginning to use her gifts.
Seth took great pleasure in watching her, and not without the secret delight at knowing that one day, in sixteen years' time, she would be carrying his child.
"I've seen you," Seth whispered to the sleeping baby curled up in his arms against his chest. "An older you; sixteen years older…" He paused, then smiled. "You're going to be very handsome, you know…"
Dick stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake up.
Seth snorted to himself.
"Funny… I don't despise you nearly as much when you are like this," he mused, more to himself. "A baby, I mean. Even though you are a mortal…"
He took one of Dick's little claw hands in his own large one, touching each of his tiny fingers.
"You're a beautiful baby, aren't you?…" Seth sighed, rocking him again. "So tiny, and yet so perfect…"
Dick's tiny fingers gripped Seth's hand in his sleep.
"A truly wondrous creation," Seth went on, sounding as though he was speaking a monologue. "And a wonder in itself, that you – a whole new person – were created by your parents' "Too-much-4th-July-punch-and-candy-corn" excitement… Already your destiny has been mapped out, "Robin", and it has been so for seven hundred years. Your soul has, by the threads of destiny themselves, been bound to another, and there is nothing you can do to change it. Your destiny will come upon you, and you shall fulfil the purpose for which you were conceived all those months ago. You will be sixteen and a half years old, and many unspeakable things will have happened to you by then. Stains on your soul, dear boy…"
Seth kissed Dick's silky black hair.
"And then, when you have fulfilled your destiny, and your purpose to me…" he whispered, "…You shall die…"
Seth gently laid the baby boy back into his cot, where he continued to sleep soundly. The Head Senator placed the fluffy dinosaur up beside him and Dick curled up against it, clutching at it with his tiny fingers.
From beyond the small room suddenly came Mary Grayson's voice, and Seth knew it was time to make himself scarce. Employing his spectral Soul-Self, he encompassed himself within the shadows of the dimly-lit room.
Watching.
Waiting.
Biding.
The door to Dick's room opened.
"…I'll just wake him up, John," she was saying, addressing her husband in the main room of the trailer. "I need to get him cleaned up and fed…"
"Ok, I'll get the water running," John Grayson's voice came back, and the sound of a running tap came with it.
Her long dark hair bouncing on her shoulders, Mary – beautiful, acrobatic, elegant – made her way across the room to her baby son's cot. She leaned over it, hooking one slim hand beneath his curled-up form and lifting him, still sleeping, into a sitting position. He stirred, his blue eyes opening, and yawned and stretched adorably.
"Come on, little Robin," Mary crooned, lifting him up and taking him to her chest. "Mommy's here… Let's go and get you cleaned up, hmm?"
Seth watched her while she played a few silly, motherly games with him; pretending to bite the tip of his nose, peek-a-boo, crap like that… The little boy squeaked and squawked with broken, infantile laughter, tugging at his mom's long black hair. She laughed and put him over her shoulder, so that he was looking back as she took him out of the room.
Seth's spectral cloak faded, revealing him half-shadowed in his dark corner.
He lit himself up another cigarette.
His green eyes glittered, holding that terrible promise.
Able to see him – even though Mary Grayson couldn't – the eight-month old Dick Grayson promptly burst into tears.
TT
"Your destiny is upon you, mortal boy," Seth whispered, his arms protectively around his so-called bride. "The promise I have been repeatedly making to you since the day of your conception will be realised tonight…"
Still on the floor, the sixteen-and-a-half year old dark-haired boy could offer no answer. Dressed in garish scarlet and green attire far too young for him – even though it fitted him perfectly – with his ebony hair shining in a neat, cow-licked style that again made his round face look even younger, Richard John Grayson – the boy with a seven hundred year old destiny – was speechless, numb inside.
His usually-sharp mind was blank.
All he knew was that he was going to die tonight.
And there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
In Seth's arms, Raven suddenly let out a tiny moan and put her hands to her forehead. She quivered in his grip, but Seth did not seem to be too perplexed by her behaviour.
Robin got to his knees, shaking too, his gaze on Raven.
"What did you do to her?" He asked softly, watching her as she massaged her forehead with her palms.
"Nothing," Seth replied breezily. "Just the sedative I gave her wearing off. I had to calm her down, she was kicking up a right fuss…"
He rocked her in his arms, one hand possessively on her swollen stomach, and Robin wanted to tear him from her.
But he couldn't. With the tiniest flick of his fingers, Robin knew that Seth could kill him. He could kill Slade.
They were mortals.
Mortals without a hope.
Raven closed her violet eyes for a second; then they reopened, and she looked at Robin as though seeing him for the first time.
Seconds passed…
"Robin!"
With sudden, unexpected strength, the pregnant girl tore herself from Seth's grip and shot for Robin a few feet away; her extra weight and long dress combined caused her to stumble, and she too fell to her knees. She looked up, reached out for him, and he took her hands and roughly pulled her to him.
They embraced tightly and Raven started to cry.
"You were right!" She choked into him, clutching at him with all of her strength. "You were right…" She sobbed harder, drawing a little away from him and looking down at her swollen abdomen.
"It's not human…" She leaned against him again, crying into the shirt-like collar of his silky yellow cape. "It's not even yours…"
"It's ok," he whispered, squeezing her.
Lying.
"It's not okay…" Raven shook her head violently. "You were right, you're always right, Robin… I should have listened to you in the first place, but I didn't want to believe you… If only I'd listened…"
"This would have happened anyway," Robin said softly. "You know that, and I know that. Seth did this, Raven; it had nothing to do with us. We had no choice in any of this…"
"We have to get rid of it…" Raven sobbed. "We'll have an abortion, yes? Like you suggested?..."
He almost laughed. Did she truly believe that they were just going to walk out of here and go home, to find themselves back in their own happy time, problem solved?
"No, Raven," he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers. "It's too late now. You'll… you'll marry Seth, be his queen… You'll give birth to his child, you'll…"
The rising bitterness in his throat near choked him and he couldn't finish.
"It's over, Raven," he went on, his voice softer still, his words forced. "Everything. He's won…" He twisted his mouth into a sad smile – it was actually quite painful to do so, but he did it for her benefit.
"Guess there's just no breaking prophecies, huh?"
She burst into a fresh round of tears and he bit his lip.
"I don't want it to be the end…" she choked. "Not yet…"
He blinked at that.
"What?... What do you mean, "Not yet?"…" He asked suspiciously.
"It doesn't matter," Raven whispered in reply. "Not anymore…" She looked up at him, blinking back her tears. "I'm not marrying him," she said savagely. "Never. And I'm not giving birth to this… this… thing inside me!"
You think you have a choice?
Robin didn't voice it, but it was the only thing going through his mind as he looked at her. Seth had said he was unable to control Raven's will – well, maybe so, but Robin now looked at her swollen stomach, at the crimson dress she wore, and wanted to scream with frustration. Maybe he was physically unable to control Raven, but through Robin, he had controlled her anyway. Impregnated her by another means; grafted a fake love-affair, forcing her to love a boy who, really and truly, she only saw as a friend. Through Robin, he had broken everyone around the Boy Wonder too; Slade, Raven, Batman, the Teen Titans…
Just as he had wanted.
Raven gently kissed Robin on the mouth, but he did not respond to it. She pulled back, her eyes brimming again, and he saw himself reflected in those deep purple pools. He saw her hand touch his mouth, healing his hurt jaw; then wiping away the worst of the blood. He exhaled heavily as she kissed his forehead, right between his cowlicks.
He felt the Blood Diamond, now around her neck, pressing against his chest.
"I love you," she whispered.
He opened his mouth.
"I-"
The moment was broken as Seth, behind them, silent all that time, burst out laughing.
"And he loves you too, of course," he interrupted, laughing still. "As though he has any kind of choice, Raven, my dear!" He smiled horribly. "But I'm glad he loves you back… because that's precisely what I need from him…"
He swept down and caught Raven's wrist, pulling her away from Robin; or attempting to. However, Raven clung desperately to the Boy Wonder and they were both hauled to their feet by Seth. The ex-Head Senator quickly disentangled them and pulled the heavily-pregnant girl back to his form, clutching her covetously; his prize. She struggled but he would not let her go, and Robin wondered why she didn't use her powers.
Had Seth done something else to her? Or was it simply because she knew they would not work against him?...
Seth didn't seem satisfied, however, that Robin would simply stay put, and raised a hand and spread his fingers; from the pointed tips them began to weave a strange black energy, much like Raven's own. But this twisted and coiled, like a drop of ink into water; liquid-like, and growing by the second. And as Robin watched it warily, it gained sudden momentum and seemed to explode upwards and outwards, straight at him. He gave a startled little cry as it engulfed him, and a basic defensive block did nothing to stop it from doing so; it cascaded over him, bitter-tasting; and hauled him upwards.
By the time he had regained his sense of position, he found that he was suddenly much higher up than his own height gave him. The black… power, whatever it was… had become something of a pillar of such, still writhing, even pulsing a little. And he was trapped right within it – most of his body was free, but with it up to his thighs and elbows he couldn't pull free; there was no leverage for him to gain.
Seth smiled up at him, clutching the quivering Raven to him.
The Boy Wonder's sharp gaze flickered briefly, between half-hearted tugs at the substance binding him, searching for Slade, who had been very quiet and non-interfering throughout most of this charade. He saw the masked man, now on his feet, one hand at his ribs still.
Despite the fighting spirit that coursed within them both, Robin knew that he and Slade saw eye-to-eye (literally in Slade's case) on this; it was over.
Seth had beaten them both.
"Do you wish for me to inform you of the rules of the prophecy, Richard?" Seth asked softly, making Robin avert his gaze from Slade to him. "Now that Raven has joined us I see no reason why we cannot proceed." He patted Raven's bump as he said her name.
Robin looked at Raven; her eyes were wide and frightened, but she remained silent.
He looked at Slade, who simply returned his gaze, his single grey eye icy and emotionless.
He looked at Seth, who smiled at him, his arms around Raven, clutching her possessively.
He sighed defeatedly, looking at the dark concrete floor, which suddenly seemed so far down….
"Fine," he said dejectedly, his voice so quiet it was barely audible.
If this was what he had been conceived to do, then why argue? Why fight?...
Seth smiled.
"There's a good boy," he whispered patronisingly. He gave his terrified bride-to-be a squeeze, pressing her against his side. "Now, if my memory serves me correctly, the prophecy itself is more a sort of set of rules; only when they are broken, or succeeded, shall my power be freed from its prison and returned to me;"
"When the very Earth itself bleeds;
When vows and promises are broken;
When apprentice shall turn on master;
When such love is the cause, and promise, of a sacrifice for another;
When Said Duplicate Souls are merged with a power beyond a mortal capability;
Only then shall the power within be unleashed, bore by its rightful owner;
Only then shall tyranny reign once more…"
"…So I fixed it all," Seth explained, excitement present within his glittering eyes now. "You two – Slade and Robin – are the "Said Duplicate Souls", and in death you shall both be merged to form the sacrificial power needed…" His gaze fixed on Robin like glue, making the boy shiver. "The rest was relatively easy; you, Robin, once made a "vow" to Batman to forever uphold the ideals of justice, promising never to use your "power" to do anything other than fighting for good… which, of course, you broke when you masqueraded under the guise of "Red X" to try and catch Slade; as Slade's apprentice you betrayed him, disobeying and turning on him… The other things will be fulfilled now, when you do what is required of you…"
"Robin, whatever he says, don't do it!" Raven cried desperately, fighting in Seth's grip.
But Robin knew what he had to do; he understood now, and he knew there was no way he could refuse.
When such love is the cause, and promise, of a sacrifice for another…
He had to sacrifice himself to save Raven.
Seth smiled, knowing that he knew.
"It's your decision, circus boy," he said softly. "I would force you to do it, but if I do that, the prophecy will not be fulfilled, because it must be of your own will – your love for her – for it to have any value or worth."
"You won't kill her," Robin replied with far more confidence than he felt, glaring down at the ex-senator. "She's carrying your baby. If you kill her, you'll kill your child."
"I assure you, mortal, that I am able to sustain the life of my child even if Raven dies," Seth purred. "I do not wish to kill her, of course – as Trigon's daughter she is hardly as worthless as a mortal such as yourself – but if I must threaten her welfare to initiate the wilful giving-up of your own life, then I will."
"But if what you said is true, that you forced me to love her," Robin pointed out scathingly, "then how can it work?"
Seth laughed softly.
"Dear boy, the love I speak of is not merely the infatuous kind; the lustful kind in which you fantasise shamelessly about her exploring your naked body with the big fluffy ostrich feather you saw in her room the last time you were in there…"
Even the pink that flushed Robin's face at that was pale, as though his blood was slowly freezing with every word Seth spoke, stopping it from getting to his face despite his humiliation.
"No, mortal," Seth went on, smiling at the pink tinge to Robin's cheeks – horrified at realising that even his horny-teenaged-boy fantasies weren't safe from one such as Seth Elliott – as he stroked the side of Raven's pale face.
"The love I speak of is one that I assure you… you do truly feel for her. One that you feel for all of your little friends, one which you feel for Batman, and for the old butler… For you to sacrifice yourself for her, you do not desperately have to want to "stick it in" – although I'm sure you do, unworthy human; you have to truly see her as something other than a sexual object, and you do. You do… because you are her friend."
Seth looked down at Raven at this point.
"Of course," he went on jauntily, "this could go the other way. My primary intention was for you, Robin, to sacrifice yourself for her, but… if the notion of that upsets her that badly, she can have the honour of allowing herself to die for you. As long as the sacrifice is out of love, then it really doesn't matter which of you dies for the other. I'd consider asking Slade, of course, but I'm pretty sure that our little rapist doesn't have any room for anything as complicated as love in that tiny mind of his…"
He looked lazily over his shoulder at Slade, who was still clutching at his ribs, merely watching. Dismissing him quickly, Seth turned back to Robin and Raven.
"Decisions, decisions, huh?" He mused dryly, looking from one to the other. "Well, which of you will it be? I'm really not bothered, you know; my child will live. I'll just be queenless. I mean, I was looking forward to the wedding, and, more importantly, the wedding night, but I can manage without." His eyes narrowed in Robin's direction and he squeezed Raven again. "I would, however, prefer it if it was you, circus boy," he added coldly. "Moreover because Raven's breeding is too good for her to be lowered to sacrificing herself for a mere mortal boy. For you."
Raven tried to break from his grip again, but the ex-Head Senator held her firmly this time. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands on her swollen stomach once again.
His terrible gaze, however, was on Robin.
"You aren't going to make me hurt her, are you, boy?" He whispered. "Are you truly that selfish?"
Robin opened his mouth but no sound came out.
"Robin, don't listen to anything he says!" Raven snapped, near tears as she struggled against Seth's strong grip. "If you sacrifice yourself he'll win!"
"And if you don't," Seth added softly, "you'll be the one responsible for her needless death."
Robin's expression was a pained one as he made a decision, still held captive by Seth's power; weighing everything out. On this hand… But on that hand… If he... But if he didn't…
He looked up, trying to force himself to stop shaking.
"I'll do it," he whispered.
Seth smiled and the power whipped away as though a gust of wind had done so; Robin fell those several feet and landed awkwardly and painfully on the concrete. Not high enough to do any real damage, but he hadn't been prepared for it at all, and winced in agony as he dragged himself back to his feet.
"NO!"
Raven broke from Seth again as she watched the Boy Wonder do so, clutching his scraped elbows as she reached him.
"Robin, don't-"
"I'm not letting him hurt you," Robin interrupted fiercely. "And if I have to die to stop him from doing so, then I will."
"Robin, you can't!" Raven was desperate, near tears. "You can't let him have his power back!"
"I have to."
His voice was utterly expressionless.
"I was born for this, Raven," he went on flatly. "I'm not allowing you to suffer for my destiny."
"You won't." Blinking back tears, Raven's pale face hardened. "I'm doing it."
Uncontrollable anger welled within him at that, and he grasped her wrists hard, hurting her; she cried in pain but he did not relinquish his grip on her.
"No you are not!" He snapped. "What, am I speaking French?!"
"Yes I am." She pulled herself from his grip, ignoring his French-speaking quip. "And I'm taking his damned unborn baby with me."
Robin stared at her.
"Didn't you hear him?!" He spat finally. "The baby won't die! He knows how to-"
"Robin, he's lying." Raven's voice was calm in comparison to his. "He's bluffing, to get you die without hesitation."
"You don't know that."
"I do." She smiled faintly. "He's not the only one who can read minds."
She walked past him towards the powder circle, but her heavy pregnancy slowed her considerably and he grabbed her, whipping her back around.
"You. Are. Not. Doing. It." He spoke every word as an entirely new sentence to accentuate his point.
"Yes I am." Tears glittered in Raven's amethyst eyes and she put a hand to her stomach. "Aside from this, I… I have my own reasons…"
"Reasons to commit suicide?! Like what?!" Robin challenged her, near hysterical.
She smiled faintly again.
"Something that will never matter now…"
He grasped her wrist again.
"There's something you aren't telling me!" He spat.
"It doesn't matter, Robin." Raven kissed his forehead. "It really doesn't… Not anymore…"
She turned away from him… and found Seth blocking her path.
His eyes glowed and suddenly Raven doubled up, screaming; she collapsed, clutching at herself, curling up, screaming and screaming in utter agony…
"What are you doing to her?!" Robin shrieked, his cape flying as he dropped to his knees beside her.
"Killing her."
Seth's voice was bland and icy, and Robin looked up at him in despair.
"Don't…" he said weakly. "Don't kill her; I'll do it. I said that I would do it…"
"Then get in the damn circle, boy."
"Stop first!" Robin pleaded. "Stop, she's going to die…"
Seth jerked his head in assertion and let off; Raven promptly stopped screaming, slumping in a quivering heap. Robin pulled her to him, shaking her. Her violet eyes opened, focusing blearily on him and his concerned expression. He breathed a sigh of relief; then realised that Seth would not have been so stupid as to allow her to die. Knowing that he had almost run out of time, he kissed the tiny jewel on her ashma chakra.
"I love you too, Ray," he murmured.
Seth impatiently reached down and grasped the boy's wrist, hauling him to his feet. Raven collapsed on the concrete floor, trying to get up even as Seth dragged Robin away.
She found Slade next to her. He unceremoniously pulled her to her feet, letting her rest against him.
Grateful as she was, Raven couldn't find it within her to verbally thank him. It was, after all, Slade's greed, his lust for power, that had allowed Seth to get this far at all.
Seth summoned the empty silver cradle for the Orb of Azarath to him, slipping it into his pocket, before throwing Robin into the blood-red powder circle. The boy landed in another dazed, aching heap and struggled to right himself as Seth went through his pockets, searching for the prophecy itself.
He was distracted from such as Slade kicked him a clear seven feet from his original position. Wasting no time, the masked villain turned sharply to Robin.
"Get out of that thing, boy," he spat. "Don't give him that goddamn power or we'll all suffer for it…"
"So, the same as if you had gotten the orb's power?" Robin mused bitterly, getting to his pixie-booted feet.
"I suggest you curb your "amusing" quips, boy," Slade replied coldly. "It would seem that our adversary is in no mood for humour…"
Robin went to the edge of the circle… and was thrown backwards by a sudden wall of blood-red energy that burst from nowhere as soon as he tried to step beyond the ellipse's powder border.
The same wall that had repelled Slade, too.
Panicking, Robin scrambled to his feet and went to the edge again, tentatively reaching out a hand. The red sparked again from nothing as he tried to touch beyond the invisible forcefield. It felt as though his hand was pressing flat against a brick wall, even though there was technically nothing there. He hammered against it to no avail, then kicked it full on, resulting in him being pitched onto his rear, still within the circle.
As he got up again, Seth swept from nowhere, elbowing Slade in the ribs. Already injured there, Slade gasped behind his mask and staggered backwards, clutching at his chest.
"I tire of you both," Seth said, sounding immensely bored, his gaze going from Slade to Raven, who was still recovering from her run-in with him, and then back again. He snapped his fingers and two more thick pillars of writhing black energy burst from the surface of the concrete floor, substantial tendrils wrapping around Slade and Raven, binding them tightly. Both struggled, but to no avail.
"Such trophies," Seth mused sarcastically. "My bride, and my favourite little rapist… Unfortunately, I have other uses for the latter… That is…"
He turned sharply to Robin, who was clawing desperately at the red wall of energy preventing his escape.
"…After I am done with you, circus boy…" he finished icily. He smiled indulgently. "And don't bother trying to escape; that wall is mortal-proof. Neither you nor Slade can enter or escape that magical circle if I do not desire you to. Something which you have both amply proved tonight, I might add."
He fished in his pocket again, extracting the prophecy by its silver chain. He slipped it over his own head, flicking his hair out from underneath it. Once he was done adjusting it he walked purposefully into the circle, his green eyes focused on Robin.
The boy stood his ground, but Seth saw him stiffen almost-imperceptibly as he reached him.
"Take off your gloves," the ex-Head Senator ordered.
Robin blinked, not sure he had heard right.
"Sorry, I-"
"Take them off, mortal, and be quick about it," Seth interrupted angrily.
Robin removed his green gloves, letting them fall to the floor.
"Your wrists."
Seth drew a thin silver knife from the back pocket of his leather pants even as he spoke. Alarmed – realising what Seth was going to do – Robin stepped back from him.
"Don't be a fool, boy," Seth snapped, holding out a hand. "Don't prolong the inevitable."
"Robin, DON'T!" Raven screamed at him.
Robin offered Seth his right wrist, upturned to show the deep blue veins close to the surface of his translucent skin.
"Goddamn you, boy, are you stupid?!" Slade shouted at him.
Seth took Robin's thin wrist in his hand, thumb and first finger on either side of it. He placed the cold, sharp edge of the knife against the boy's skin with the other.
Raven started to cry, her eyes suddenly becoming four, blazing crimson as though covered in a film of blood.
"Robin, listen to me!" She choked, tears streaming down her face from each of her four eyes. "Don't do this! Robin-"
Robin closed his eyes and looked away as the knife bit into his wrist. He made a sound halfway between a cry and a gasp as he felt the stinging of the blade cutting cleanly through his skin, through his veins…
He pulled his hand back, his fingers clawed as he looked at his severed wrist in despair. Already blood was streaming down the length of his arm.
"And the other one."
Robin looked up at Seth, his eyes frightened as he gripped his cut wrist with his other hand, trying to stem the blood flow.
"ROBIN!" Raven screamed. "Don't do anything he says, do you hear me?!"
Looking briefly at her, Robin offered Seth his other wrist, gingerly taking his now-bloody left hand from his already-cut one.
"There's a good boy," Seth whispered for a second time. "All be over soon…"
The knife tasted mortal flesh again and Robin collapsed to his knees, weakening already. Blood streamed in torrents from both of his wrists, staining his arms and hands too with that slick crimson liquid.
Satisfied, Seth licked the blade clean and pocketed it again. He then turned on his heel and swept back out of the circle, his black robe flowing behind him.
"Now then…" Seth snapped his fingers and the energy binding Raven suddenly released her, petering from existence; she collapsed forwards to the floor, one hand protectively at her stomach despite her earlier words. Seth moved to her, pulling her to her feet.
"Come, my bride," he whispered, entwining his arms around her swollen form once again. "Let the Knave of Hearts willingly give his life for you; let the prophecy be fulfilled…"
Behind them, Slade struggled still in vain.
Ignoring him, Seth turned back to Robin; the boy was on his knees, bent over, his eyes almost closed. His breathing was becoming very shallow and there was a pool of blood gradually forming around him.
Seth smiled.
"I have anticipated this moment since the very second your mother brought you into the world," he said indulgently, squeezing Raven to his side. "Watching you die, I mean…"
Robin lifted his head weakly, fighting blackness.
"Glad… it gives you… so much pleasure…" he replied, his voice breathless and bitter.
"Oh, it does…" Seth touched the platinum and ruby ring on Raven's finger. "But I am afraid I must ask one more thing of you, Richard, before we may begin."
"Robin," Raven whispered, tears still streaming down her face; her eyes had returned to normal, and now they were fixed desperately on the dying boy in the middle of the magical circle. "Robin, for Azar's sake, don't do what he says…"
Seth gently put his hand over her mouth, stopping her from voicing any more pleas to the boy she falsely-loved.
"Stand up, please, Richard," he ordered calmly. "You need to be standing."
"Stay down, boy!" Slade snapped in counter from beyond them.
Robin paid no attention, instead hauling himself to his feet, where he swayed, blood dripping from his fingertips – it was running down the entire lengths of his bare hands.
"Good boy. One final thing," Seth said perkily. "Just to let you know that you'll die, of course, within the Sacrificial Circle, but at the moment of death your soul will be torn from your mortal body and summoned to me. It will go into here…" He tapped the stone pendant – the prophecy – hanging at his neck. "…To be joined by Slade's once I have done away with him also. Your souls will be merged within the prophecy and be used as the source for the Summoning."
"Now…" Seth retrieved the knife from his pocket and tilted Raven's head back, placing the length of his blade against her bared throat. His hand gagged her but her eyes were open, still on Robin.
The room suddenly plunged into darkness again, lit only by the hundreds of candles like tiny fairies scattered all over the room, around the circumference of the circle. His eyes glowing with ghostly power, Seth spoke in his native tongue, whispering that fluent Azarathian incantation he had already uttered, summoning forth the power of the prophecy. The blue writing materialised again from the very air; blue neon glowing in darkness.
Tightening his grip on his "bride-to-be", Seth's blazing gaze was on Robin; the silver of the knife flashed against Raven's throat. Tears shone in her eyes; the narrow candlelight enhanced her swollen stomach.
"Do you, Richard John Grayson," Seth whispered in English, "offer to sacrifice your mortal life to save this one whom you love dearly? Do you offer, by the blood you have already spilled, for your being to be succumbed by those that would devour it in order to preserve the life of Raven Roth? Do you, with all of your soul, mind and being, give yourself willingly for her?"
It sounded like a question of matrimony.
Do you, Richard John Grayson, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?
'Til death does part you?
I do.
That was the answer; those two words.
He looked at Raven through his blacking vision. She shook her head desperately, tears on her face, still falling, and Seth pressed the knife harder against her throat.
He had no choice.
He looked at Seth defiantly.
"I do," he replied firmly, his wrists freely dripping blood to the concrete floor.
As the words left his lips the powder that made up the circle suddenly seemed to dissolve, become liquid.
Red liquid that glittered in the flickering candlelight.
Somehow; blood.
He now stood in a circle drawn in blood, each tiny Azarathian symbol crafted too from this life-giving solution, bleeding all over the floor himself. The blood – his own blood – pooling around him began to merge with the lines of the magic circle, obscuring it, spreading outwards…
"Then by your word and your vow," Seth finished, taking the knife from Raven's throat, "may your mortal flesh be cast to the fires of sin and despair to save her. May this charm protect her from further harm, and may your selfless death not have been in vain…"
His smile was quite possibly but the most terrifying thing Robin had ever seen.
"…Let the prophecy finally be fulfilled."
TT
Oh, yes. Another utterly vile cliff-hanger. Because I'm just awesome like that.
You have to remember, before you threaten to lynch me for these cliff-hangers in your reviews, that these "chapters" are broken-up segments of long chapters. For example, the previous four chapters were all part of one big chapter, entitled "Child of Shadows". This is actually the beginning of Chapter 7.
Of course, I do especially pick my cut-offs so that there IS a cliff-hanger…
Because I'm just awesome like that.
ALSO: New art up on DA! An "illustration" from this chapter, and a pic of Raven in her dress from this chapter. She's pregnant in both pics. Whoo. Link is over on my profile, as always.
AND: The amazingly talented Worren over at DeviantART made for me an AWESOME banner to advertise the very trilogy you are reading right now! If you'd like to take a look at it, you can cruise on over to my profile, where you'll find a link to a forum post (for Author Idol, actually). You can witness "Simon" ripping into me, actually. Uh, you might need to trawl down to page 6. also you can see the rocking avatar Worren also made for me!
Anyways…
RobinRocks xXx