Ok..wow I'm sooooo sorry that I haven't been updating at all!! I really don't mean to be mean to you all! My education is calling me hehe..and if this was high school I'd ignore it. College and my classes are something I care about (sorry to be so harsh) more than this. I'm not saying that I'm giving this up. It's my Thanksgiving Break so I'm going to make this a really good one, ok? I think I'll let you in a little more into Red-X's persona. Hopefully you aren't too mad at me and still can give me some love in the form of reviews?!!! Perhaps? ;p
Chapter 25: Distinguish
A cool wind flitted through the city, encouraging the countless wads of old crumpled newspapers to glide noiselessly along the cigarette littered street. The moon had become suffocated by the thick ominous clouds and the only lights came from the artificial bulbs scattered throughout the congestion of businesses. The callous waves breaking along the stretch of resilient beige dunes made for a peaceful lullaby for those that were blessed enough to hear it, yet it seemed so far into the night that not a single soul was awake to hum along with the rhythmic collisions. No one would even sense two clandestine voyagers ascending their way to the seclusion of the seemingly deserted forest just west of the city. Their adept footsteps seemed to have no foundation and the accuracy in their silent strides appeared to be an impossibly acquired and impossibly executable skill. They filtered in between the dense collection of pines covertly and their rapid presences were mere remnants of transient shadows lingering with the ceasing of the breeze, and vanishing as though they had been a sinister illusion with a powerful gust. As a towering cliff cut off their undesignated path the two shadows halted abruptly, with as much sound as a profuse fog descending over the trees dripping with the blackness of the night.
The young sorceress deeply inhaled the cool humid air, feeling the entrapments of the city fade with the cadenced melody of the sea. She felt simply blessed that her eyes could behold such a picturesque sight where no words could explain its beauty. The wind tousled her violet locks and they splayed out over her features, distorting the scenic meadow that lay just below a jagged overhang. With a swift jerk of her head the view became whole again. A natural smile graced her lips as her gaze swiveled over the eternally serrated stones, a spontaneous garden full of slumbering velvety blossoms, the lithe reeds scattered where ever they desired that without content gave into the breeze and swayed to its command. It was just too perfect. "What is this place?" she asked him in wonder.
A comforting breeze occupied the few moments of silence. Though she could not see his face, she knew he was breathing in the magnificent spectacle as well. "It's my place. My home," He replied in a voice that was vacant of the abrasive mechanical voice she had become accustomed to. Raven recovered from the shock quickly and drank in the deep lulling voice. She was finally one step closer to revealing his true identity and yet, she had no cravings of unmasking this man whom her friends, and at one time herself, had stated was the team's enemy. But she wasn't with her friends. The absence of them skewed her views and judgments intensely, yet she no longer fought these uncontrollable thoughts and feelings, she embraced them. For once in her troubled life, she had found someone that was like her in almost every way. The only difference was that Red-X wasn't afraid to express himself like she was. All these layers of suppressed memories and emotions, bound, gagged and beaten into submission until they became so pitifully numb and shattered that the ability to lock them away and forget was an effortless task that Raven had gotten so used to that it hardly ever phased her that she was slowly killing her heart. The routine meditations, the mind barriers, and the affect that she willed to remain flat, in the long run, they had all brought pain and suffering instead of relief. True the safety of others around her was her top priority, but how much did she have to suffer in order for others to feel what she had always longed to? It was becoming increasingly clear that the necessity to remain detached had poisoned her soul. It was dying, she was dying, yet she couldn't bring herself to endanger others for her own selfish wants. Lately, however, there had been the slightest glimmer of light and warmth. But who was the cause of this blessing? Robin or Red-X?
"I come to think here a lot," X had finally spoken and broken Ravens circular argument within herself. "I think a lot about you."
Raven bit her bottom lip and willed with every last ounce of strength she possessed to suppress the excess of emotions pulsing through her body. Closing her eyes tightly she breathed rhythmically, chanting her mantra in her head. "Oh," was all she could manage to say. What am I supposed to say to that?! She was panicking slightly as awkwardness filled the void in between the two. She turned away from his form, encased in shadow, and glanced once again at the meadow below them. Though the beauty was so consuming, her eyes were vacant to absorb the black tainted colors of the surroundings. So many thoughts were racing through her mind, yet one reoccurring thought was so strong that she could not keep herself from asking it. "Who are you?" It seemed like a fair question. After all, he had told her that he thinks about her; shouldn't she know who she's thinking about as well?
He chuckled, causing his body to quiver. "I'm Red-X," he stated, though they both knew he was toying with her.
"You know what I mean. Why won't you tell me?" Raven said, with a gentleness she didn't know she possessed. She had every right to be angry with him, yet she wasn't.
"If you knew the things I've done, you wouldn't want to know who I am." He bowed his head low.
Raven blinked several times. The statement had clearly caught her off guard. Not only that, she was still getting used to his true voice, which was currently brimming with sorrow, a sorrow that had accompanied her voice as well for as long as she could remember. With as much compassion as her powers allowed her to muster, she turned back to Red-X, took his gloved hand and led him over to the edge of the cliff, the pebbles beneath their feet crunching with each step. He only showed the slightest amount of hesitance as Raven tried to guide him along. He surrendered without delay after a benign glance from Raven's captivating violent orbs. They both lowered their bodies towards the ground and sat side by side with their legs dangling off the edge. Raven released her grip on his hand and although she felt no warmth in them, she still longed for him to return to her grasp. Much to her dismay, he placed his palms flat on the ground, pushing his body a little farther off the edge to see just how far down the massive fungi clothed rock went.
Raven eyed him observantly, sensing his body language as that of someone extremely anxious and uncomfortable. "I've done horrible things and I'm destined to do unspeakable things. We've all done things we regret, X." She had no idea where her openness had come from, but as long as he would respond to it, it didn't matter. He heaved a sigh, trying to delay the conversation at all costs. "So tell me…Please?"
He sighed again. "What do you want to know?" his voice a mere whisper of surrender.
"I want to know you. Where did you come from? How did you get here?" She began with the basics, not wanting to overwhelm him.
"I was born away from here, far away." He seemed in a reminiscent trance.
"Ok." She replied.At least we're getting somewhere.
"If you're wondering how I became a thief, it's in my blood. My father taught me everything I know."
"And where is he now?"
"Out of my life." He replied roughly.
"What about your mother?" She tried to get off the subject of his father since he seemed unwilling to talk about him further.
"She never even existed in my life, I never met her." He said, his voice resonating with something far deeper than sorrow.
The hooting of an owl echoed not far off and Raven glanced out towards the meadow teeming with life below them. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I'm not. I don't really care either way." He spoke with an abrasive inflection, but there were prominent undertones of grief. "My family's not important to me, I live alone now and I never look back."
His conclusion seemed final, with no entry points for questions or clarifications. His past sounds just as horrible as mine.
"I live not far away from here but you wouldn't be able to find it even if you tried." His tone was becoming harder and harder by the minute.
"Do you like stealing and always running? Do you like living like this?" she asked. It seemed ludicrous to her for anyone to actually like his lifestyle.
He looked at her for a moment. "It has its perks." Raven turned away to hide the redness that had suddenly filled her face, though unnecessarily since the cover of night had still been bestowed upon them. "Sometimes I like it and sometimes I don't. But there's nothing I can do about it."
She turned back to him and studied his masked face. "Why?"
"Why what?" He seemed to have calmed down a bit and asked with a gentle voice.
"Why can't you do anything about it?"
He turned away from her. "If you were in my position you would understand." Now he just appeared to have shut down completely.
"Well no one knows who you are, why can't you just take off the mask and be who you really are?" She decided to be bold and slowly reached up to his face to try and remove the cover.
He gripped her wrists and pushed them away without a second thought. "This is who I am."
"I don't believe that," she refuted gently.
"Believe what you want," he said harshly, turning his body so his back was towards her.
"I think you could change yourself, you're just afraid of people seeing who you really are." She claimed, making another audacious statement.
"Well what about you?!" He half shouted. "You're here with me when you know it's wrong, why don't you go tell Robin why we keep seeing each other?!"
"I…" She knew he had cornered her. "I can't."
"Why not? Why don't you show him who you really are and tell him what you really want?"
"I don't even know that," she whispered, turning her back to him and hugging her knees to her chest. There lingered a long silence occasionally filled with birds chirping or a frequent breeze piercing the slumbering forest. She would've reacted differently and perhaps been slightly less affected had he not involved Robin. For every time she thought of him it felt like a white hot blade piercing her heart. She could feel all the betrayal she had produced and it was so overwhelming that it made her want to stand up and leave and never see X again.
Suddenly, she felt his presence just behind her left shoulder. "Well when you find out let me know." His voice had phased out all the anger and fury and left only tenderness remaining, although Raven couldn't ignore the slight sound of disappointment.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling guilty and couldn't help but think that she was just toying around with both him and Robin.
"It's all right, decisions like these take time." He whispered back in her ear making her shiver.
She turned her body back towards him and found that he sat cross legged not two feet away from her. They stared at each other silently for what seemed like hours. As the breeze disheveled her tresses she squinted in an attempt to see behind his mask. It was impossible for certain, yet it didn't make her any less desperate and hopeful.
"So what makes you like him so much?" He finally spoke a hint of jealousy playing in his voice.
"Who?" She asked, though she knew exactly who he was referring to. She couldn't understand how it was so obvious to X that she liked Robin while her friends seemed blind to it.
"You know, Ro-…" A rustle in the bushes a few hundred yards away cut him off and captured both their attentions. Both Raven and Red-X rose from their sitting position simultaneously, glaring at the shrub. Another movement progressed and as Raven began to step forward a small black ball was thrown towards the two. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her waist and before she could comprehend what was happening she was flying head first over the cliff. A tremendous explosion erupted above them, showering them with heaps of rough stones. She didn't know how she managed, but she regained her composure at nearly the last second and levitated herself, as well as Red-X as he clung firmly to her arms, away from the torrent of debris. Red-X released his grip and landed lithely on his feet on a soft bed of pink daffodils. Raven, still airborne, glanced up through the downpour to see their attacker.
"Professor Chang!" Raven grumbled as she spotted his familiar lab coat and villain-esque moustache.
He smiled a maniacal grin and waved. "Just trying out my new xenothium bombs! I've been trying to find some humans to test and you were at the right place at the right time!" He laughed and hurled another black sphere at her.
Raven flung out her arms and captured the bomb in her dark energy. As it blew up her power expanded with the blast, but the xenothium proved too powerful for her and she drew back her aura and was throw back to the ground from the explosion. As she flew to the ground her back suddenly and painfully collided with a massive boulder. The air passed from her lungs and as soon as she got the chance to inhale once again she groaned in agony. The pain was so intense that all she could manage to do is lay there trying to catch her breath. Every time she thought she could move her back would crack and produce a sharp sting in protest. Though all she could manage to do was lift her head she managed to twist and turn, searching fervently for X. Did he leave me?!
Another explosion sounded but this time it wasn't accompanied by a barrage of rocks hailing downward. Raven glanced up at the edge of the cliff to see Red-X fending off Professor Chang. He threw relentless punches and graceful kicks and although most of them missed their target, they prove good enough to push Chang back into the forest.
Professor Chang was obviously not the fighting type and he threw a volley of bombs before he fled into the forest, flailing his arms and laughing in delight. The lingering bombs all seemed to miss their target, except one. Raven saw it plunge over the cliff a few feet from her. Both her and X followed its path with their gaze and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Before Raven had a chance to move the bomb landed in the middle of a group of monumental pine trees. There was a moment of silence before everything in Raven's eyes changed. The bomb exploded, forcing the trees from their roots and thrusting them outward. As there was a moment of scorching heat a shower of dirt fell over Raven and then a pain that she had never felt so extreme fell upon her stomach. She closed her eyes and lay silently as the pain extended throughout her body.
"Raven!" She heard X's voice, but it seemed to come from somewhere far away. She suddenly felt coarse hands caress her face and brush off the clumps dirt. The confusion was so great that she finally opened her eyes. She saw a pale hand as it moved around her face. X's glove must've come off during the fight. She thought as she began to start. She tried to move her arms but they were pinned to her side by something heavy. She blinked through the blurs that filled her eyes and looked down. An entire tree trunk lay over her, smothering her waist and arms. She groaned loudly as she looked up. X's masked face came into few and she knew under it lay features violently worried and scared.
"I'm going to try to get this off you," he said, whispering in her ear and running his naked hand through her sullied hair. His face disappeared from her gaze and a moment later she felt a gut wrenching pain sear its way through her body. She threw her head from side to side and screamed as he struggled to remove the weight. "It's okay, you're going to be all right." She could hear him encouraging her through her cries.
Finally, after one last sharp pain, the weight was gone. Raven tried to inhale, but each time all she could accomplish was a fit of coughs. As the burning pain began to become numb she heard a familiar voice approaching. Robin! She would recognize his voice anywhere. Where's Red-X? She turned her head and she saw a dark shadow running towards the shelter of the woods. The figure stopped and turned to take one last glimpse before retreating further into the shadows.
Raven groaned again as she turned her head to look up at the now clear starry sky. The stars, however, began to blur and the edges of her vision began to darken. Her hazy view once again became obstructed and she could make out a person above her with a mask, yet with each breath she took, her mind began to black out.
"Raven?!" She could hear a far off demanding voice.
"X?" She whispered and the darkness of unconsciousness fully consumed her.
END OF CHAPTER 25!!!
Ok what did you guys think?!! I think that if I have time I'll write a few more chapters this week and save them so I can update more regularly. I don't think I'll get any protests! ;p so please review guys, I know I haven't been the nicest person when it comes to updates…but your reviews will sure encourage me! Pwease?!