ROY: 11
DICK: 14
Author's Note: had it seriously been almost 2 years since I last updated this story? Wow I'm so sorry guys. I revisited fanfiction after I binged The Flash and I felt inspired Tom write fanfiction for them, however I also ended up looking through my reviews on this story and felt awful how I neglected this story for much too long. It's time to bring this one to a close.
So I decide to do something different, I didn't want to drag on the story the way it was going because honestly to me it felt slow. So I hope what I did here helped to quicken the pace a little and give you something to anticipate for next time? Please let me know how you feel about the time gap because I wanted to equal out the time a little based on my long hiatus.
Above is the current standings for the two boys and based on these numbers, it'll determine how they react to Katherine in the story! You can think of it as a little interactive fun? Remember you can vote once ever 12 hours! So if you wanna see a certain character get the girl, be sure to say often!
Thank you all for your encouraging words when I believed this story was dead. Thank you all! You guys are the real MVPS!
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ROY
He stood over her grave, the willow tree swung its branches as the wind passed through. He lost someone special, someone he could never attempt to replace.
The sky was dark and he enjoyed it, it was a testament to how he felt. He made a silent promise to Katherine that he'd always regret what he's going to do, but he somehow knew she'd understand.
"Now." He waved a hand and the excavator dug it's shovel into the soft wet earth and pulled up hundreds of pounds of dirt.
Something deep down tugged at his heart, how could he do this to someone who was meant to sleep peacefully, someone who died as tragically as she deserves better. He pushed his heart aside and ignore it's nagging.
"It's done." Roy looked over to the man covered I dirt, it started to rain and the water slid down his face leaving streaks in its wake. He nodded and jumped into the immaculately carved rectangular in the ground and jerked open the coffin.
She lay peacefully, but her body was thinner.
He wanted to cry, to scream, he never wanted to see her pale face again but yet there he was looking down on her for the second time in his life. "I'm sorry Kat." He brushed the hair out of her face and closed the coffin. "Clean it up." He quickly stepped out of the hole, as the excavator started to push the dirt back in.
It had been two years since her death, and every day since Katherine Danielle Summers from Earth 111 appeared in his life, he could no longer sleep at night. He wasn't sure if it would settle his restless mind, seeing the only girl he ever truly love dead and decaying, but he needed peace of mind. To know that the APDP traveler was not the one he could ever love.
It wouldn't matter if his Katherine had cheated on him with his best friend, he forgave her. Perhaps it was naive of him to do so, but it no longer ate at his subconscious. He supposes the reason why it receded was only due to her last words.
"You've been the only one Roy. Ever."
He swallowed remembering it, not sure how it should affect him anymore. He had confirmation that the girl he loved was dead and that her counterpart was to blame.
One and a half years of AWOL should've be long enough for people to change and to make his move against the true evil: the APDP traveler. He tightened his fits as the men finished covering the grave with sod. He wasn't going to fail her, he wasn't going to let anyone in the way.
Even if that person was his best friend.
DICK
He guessed it was twilight. There was less chatter in the hallways and the occasional footsteps down the hall had completely faded. 'The Witching Hour' as they called it, the time where the criminals started to lurk in the streets hoping to snatch a bag, rob a bank, or threaten to take down a building. He had monitoring perfected like an art, thousands of statistics were run to make his headquarters the most respondent to in city terror. He had Katherine, or Scarlet to thank for that.
After all it had been two years since the last tragic occurrence where Whisperer had the upper hand on the team every time they encountered him. Their reality as they knew it was falling apart every time the JL stepped into battle with the shadowy demon. And for weeks they couldn't find a feasible reason why, Dick knew this was how his world would succumb.
He let his gaze hop from one screen to the next; Jaime apprehending a burglar with a gun, Kid Flash helping a construction worker from the top of a breaking crane, but his eyes landed on a particular monitor where the ACDT News camera was focused on a particular female speedster.
As he watched how she gallantly glided over the sides of the buildings while attempting to apprehend Mirror Master's protege, he remembered why his earth hadn't met its end.
As the planet thanked the Justice League for their sacrifice for every human being, he knew who made the ultimate sacrifices of all.
The camera switched from ground crew to areal view, and as the camera had a better angle to capture her, Scarlet came into view. Two years had changed this girl, he would readily admit that; two years would change anyone.
He peeled off the mask from his face, he was feeling too claustrophobic, as the memories of a not too distant conflict crept into his thoughts. He too was a changed man after that day, there was no denying it.
Her back turned to the camera and her new uniform exposed her back, a glaring reminder to everyone who she was, where she was from, and what she had done. But to him, it was a reminder what she had willingly gave up for the billions of selfish beings who inhabited this earth.
KATHERINE
A long day out in the field was becoming an everyday affair, her body was not as it was two years ago and she's still trying to cope with the after effects Whisperer had warned her of.
She touched the side of the door to her room before it granted her access and slid open and she dragged her feet in. Everyday was longer and ever fight became harder, but she wouldn't let it stop her from doing good for the people who needed it most.
She shrugged off her dark red leather jacket and hung it on a wall peg and slipped out of her matching combat boots before shifting in front of the mirror where her reflection solemnly started back at her. The girl she saw was dying; a corpse of a soul who once had dreams and ambitions but something happened and halted them—permanently. She chided herself for thinking that way, whatever had happened two years ago will always be, she can never change time. Besides she messed with dimensions enough to understand the consequences of actions as drastic as that.
She turned her back to the mirror and looked over her shoulder to see the branding embedded into her flesh. 'E111' it read. She traced a finger over the '1' closest to her right hand, remembering how the shadows felt as if they were clawing at her back.
"You will never forget that you don't belong here, Katherine Summers." The deep yet sharp voice of Whisperer pierced the night air as she gripped her restraints like life lines as the burn in her back caused her nose to fill with the scent of her own flesh burning. The only thing that could be heard was the scream that formed from her lips.
She shivered as the dark memory found its way to the front of her mind. Just because she doesn't have speed doesn't mean she's invaluable to Nightwing's new team, she's proven her worth and a small conflict two years ago would not stop her from finding happiness in a world she was forced to call home.
...
After a shower and a small meal, she crossed the HOJ to the only place he'd be.
"Hey, thought I'd bring you some tea." She approached him sitting in his chair staring at the monitors, she missed the days where he didn't feel obligated to watch the city from one morning to the next. "Thank you, I was about to get some," He cupped the mug in his hands letting the steam rise, "are you doing okay?" He turned to face her, she was always struck by his sharp features, especially when the shadows played on the edges of his face. "Never better." She looked down and away, ashamed of how he saw through her. "It's about Roy isn't it." The warmth in his voice that was once there couldn't be found, and she wasn't sure whether to proceed to elaborate with her feelings.
"Answer me damn it!" His fist made contact with the monitor's pad, not enough to shatter the keyboard but enough to startle her, "Yes, it is." The more he raised his voice the more she lowered hers, it was a never ending cycle of demand and fear, harsh and soft. Her face must've been enough for Dick to check his reaction because the next time she looked up his face contorted into something close between hurt and guilt, "I'm sorry Kat." He put his mug down and opened his arms to her, "come here." She obliged and instantly felt safer, she wasn't sure what their connection was, but since Roy left them, they needed each other. The three of them endured something no one should ever have, and she felt as if Roy was the first to crack. So he left, he fled like a coward, leaving her heart broken and Dick hurt and confused.
"I know how you feel about him Gray, its just the nightmares. I feel like something's going to happen. And soon." As she sat in his lab she pushed herself of his chest, feeling as if she had to peel her soul from his. "If there is something, we'll deal with it when it comes."
She wished she could believe that.
ONE AND A HALF YEARS AGO, ROY
"I'm sick and I'm tired of everything," he was truly exasperated, if Katherine and Dick couldn't see where he was coming from, there was no point to be in the HOJ. "Roy, I love you, but please you gotta understand," he heard the pleading in her voice. "No you understand, you came into this world, my world, and since then nothings ever been the same." He pointed the tip of his bow at her face, rage written across his eyes and bubbling in his throat, "you learn your place here, and I would've thought Whisperer made it clear enough." He scoffed as one of her hands mindlessly shot up to the small of her back.
"Hey don't you ever talk to her like that," Dick stepped in blocking his view of Katherine, "she doesn't need to hear it from you of all people." Dick slapped his bow away signaling the end of the argument.
Roy felt almost guilty for what he had said, after all it was hard to look into the eyes of the girl who looked exactly like the one he was to marry. But all he had to do was bring his mind back to that day a few months ago, when the three of their lives changed forever.
He hastily pulled the quiver off his back. "Until you," he shoved his bow and arrows into Dick's chest, "realize what she's done," he threw a deadly glance at Katherine standing behind her protector, "then my work here has expired." With that he promised himself he'd find the truth.
All he needed to do was tuck the feeling he felt for earth 111's Katherine to the dark recesses of his heart.
