From the Darkness...
Dick didn't think that Gotham could get any darker, but somehow, it was. The streetlamps, the windows, normally lit at nighttime hours, were all dark. The only illumination came from the moon, full and at least four times the size it normally was, and the Batsignal glowing on the clouds. The buildings themselves were black, not the usual grey stone, and a dark mist hovered at ground level.
He was standing next to Jason at the top of Wayne Tower. Somehow, they were in their crime fighting clothes, all of their gear present except for their masks. Dick looked around impatiently. Normally, he wouldn't be looking for a fight, but he wanted this thing gone and out of his brother. "Where is it?" Hm. His voice was a little distorted here.
Another moment passed, both sets of eyes flicking across the rooftops. Finally, Jason's arm crossed Dick's view, pointing at the moon. "There." A large bat was silhouetted against the moon, flying straight for them. It crashed its wings into them as it passed, knocking them off the building. Before Dick could grab his grapple, he landed, but not as hard as he had thought.
"You alright Jason?" Giving himself a quick check, he was mildly surprised to find himself uninjured. This was technically a dream; did that mean physics didn't apply?
"Just fine. Weird."
A flapping behind them turned both of their heads towards the noise, dropping into ready position. The bat landed, wings folded to its sides. Its voice, when it spoke, was Jason's, buzzing and soft. You are breaking your promise. I had thought you were better than that. I see that I was wrong.
Jason snarled. "Nice try, but I didn't promise you, I promised my darkness. And the last time I gave you control, you tried to kill my family. Repeatedly." Startled, Dick glanced at Jason. Why hadn't he told him this…? "I wanted to protect them and you went for their hearts. Asshole."
The bat took a step, but it was a booted, human foot that came forward. The dark shape of a man, of Jason, walked towards them, the bat-shape disintegrating behind it. Its skin was black, with yellow lines running across it. You may believe what you like. The one of which you speak is no more. I am your darkness now. What you promised to it is now mine. I am all that is left. And I will be taking my due.
Stepping in front of Jason protectively, Dick growled at the thing. "You will be taking nothing. Jason owes you squat and if you have an issue with that, you'll be going through me."
The not-Jason cocked its head to the side, regarding him. Very well. It drew a dark All Blade and attacked. Pulling an escrima stick, Dick blocked it, leaving Jason open to draw his own Blade and stab at it. Knocking the Blade away with a gun pulled from its thigh holster, not-Jason jumped back, firing at Dick, who flipped back to avoid them. He completed the flip, then pushed himself forward, easily breaching the distance between him and the not-Jason. He was about to jab the electric end of his stick into its stomach when it raised its hand and...
He was in an old rundown apartment. It was empty, except for an old mattress lying in the corner and a few dirty dishes. The front door banged open and a child, no older than ten ran in. For some reason, Dick couldn't make out his face. The kid didn't even acknowledge Dick's presence, racing instead to the bathroom and pounding on the door. His mouth was moving, but no sound came out. Finally, he succeeded in opening the door. A woman was lying on the floor, surrounded by syringes. Dropping to the floor next to her, the boy started shaking her, crying. Dick clutched at his chest. It felt like his heart was breaking. Tears slid down his face, but they didn't feel like his tears. He felt despair, anger, at her for doing this, at himself for allowing it to get this far, hopelessness.
The room started fading, as the child's face became clearer. Jason…?
Dick was back where he was before, his escrima stick still aimed at the thing's stomach. It, however, had a gun pointed at his head, finger on the trigger. Jason tackled Dick midair as the not-Jason squeezed the trigger. The two boys crashed into the roof, but were back on their feet in seconds. "What the hell Dick? You had him! Why did you freeze like that?"
Dick was still reeling. "It hit me with something. A vision, a memory, something."
His gun pointed at the thing, Jason froze. Slowly, he looked at Dick. "What memory…?" He asked reluctantly, dreading the answer.
"I think it was when you found Catherine." The tone Dick used made it obvious of what he was talking about.
His face contorting in rage, Jason shot at the thing. "How dare you? How dare you use my memories as a weapon against my own brother?! Those are mine." The sky, pitch black a moment ago, flared red. "And while you're at it, you can stop looking like me, sounding like me. You don't get to do that!"
As Jason leapt at the not-Jason, Dick noticed with dread that his shoulder was bleeding. He had taken the bullet meant for Dick. Grabbing his other escrima stick from its compartment, he threw himself back into the fray.
At first, it had seemed like Jason had the upper hand. Rage fueled his attacks, making them land faster and harder than the other's. But the hole in his shoulder was weakening him, sapping his energy every time he leveled his gun. A dark All Blade swung at his neck, too fast for him to dodge.
An escrima stick shot itself between Jason's neck and the Blade, deflecting it. "Focus Jason. If you fly off the handle, you'll be an easier target." Dick smiled at him, one of the smiles that said "I'm fine, don't worry."
Jason snorted. Yeah right. But he calmed himself down and together with Dick, continued his attack. They ran the darkness ragged, but just as they were about to get the upper hand, it raised its arm and…
Jason and Dick stood in a startlingly familiar apartment. In front of them stood another Jason, this one with half a domino mask, with his arm curled around the Joker's neck and pointing a gun at Batman. Batman held a gun by the barrel in one hand. His voice was strained as he spoke, "Stop this."
Masked-Jason simply tightened his grip on the Joker. "It's him or me. You have to decide."
Jason could only watch, thunderstruck as the scene played out in front of him. Anger built in him, the same fury that had consumed him back then. How could Batman have done this? How could he have let him live? He was jostled out of his thoughts by Dick's sudden hand on his shoulder. Turning to his brother, he could see that Dick felt the same anger as he did now, as he did back then. He was about to speak, when the other-him started counting.
Faster than Dick could follow, Batman lashed out with a batarang. It bounced off of the wall behind Jason, stabbing him in the neck. Dick lunged forward, wanting to grab his brother, to stop the bleeding. So much blood. But Jason, his Jason grabbed his arm. Turning, Dick was shocked to see him looking resigned. But he understood. This had already happened. As much as he wanted to, Dick couldn't change it. The scene ended as Joker pulled the trigger and the apartment exploded.
Not-Jason's boot collided with Dick's chest, launching him back a few feet. Shaking his head to clear it, he felt phantom pains across his body, as if he really had been in an explosion. Something tickled his neck. Pressing his hand to the spot, it came back to him red. He was bleeding. He was bleeding in the same spot that masked-Jason had been in the memory. Whipping his head around, he tried to catch a glimpse of Jason's neck as he fought Xehanort's darkness. Damn. He was bleeding there too.
It was shallow, not bleeding as heavily as it had been in the memory, so Dick stood up. He couldn't keep letting Jason fight this thing by himself. Jason fired three rounds off at the darkness, forcing it to jump back while Jason retreated to Dick's side. "So Dickie, what's the plan?"
"We keep pressing it. Don't give it a chance to put us into another memory." Quickly, Dick grabbed two adhesive bandages from a compartment and slapped one onto his neck. He pressed the other one to Jason's neck, slightly gentler than he had done with his own. "I'm not sure we can afford the injuries we get from those. And… I'm sorry, but I feel what you're feeling in the memory. That in and of itself is…" He broke off, not quite knowing what to say.
"Really distracting and energy draining. Yeah. I know." Jason wasn't happy that his brother was feeling what he had felt. He had been in a bad place when this had been happening. A somewhat justifiable place, but a bad one nonetheless. Even now, Jason still wanted the Joker dead. But he knew that it wass never going to happen, not by Batman's hand.
Moving quickly, he shot his gun forward, not firing it off, but aiming the barrel at the darkness's head. It hit with a resounding crack and while it was still reeling, he stabbed it in the arm with his Blade. Dick moved in, a batarang shoving its way into the other arm. The darkness growled. It spoke, continuing to block the vigilantes' attacks as it went. Enough of this. How dare this interloper intrude?
"Like you're one to talk!" Jason shot out, both figuratively and literally. Xehanort's darkness dodged the rain of bullets, skidding to a stop a few meters away.
It faced Dick, and time seemed to slow. It didn't raise its hand, it couldn't with gaping wounds in both arms, but…
Suddenly, he was in a warehouse.
"NO!" Jason raced over to his brother, catching him as he fell. Addressing Xehanort's darkness, he screamed, "You bastard, where did you send him?!"
You will find out. It will take time. This memory is longer than the others.
Jason dragged Dick to the fence surrounding the rooftop. Hopefully, that would keep him out of the way of the fight. He rested a hand on his forehead, then pulled his gun. Stalking slowly towards the bastard that did this to Dick, he aimed and fired.
The air was hot and dry. There was sunlight streaming through the windows, far too intense to be anywhere near Gotham. Dick tried to look around, find a window or something, but he couldn't move. His entire being was fixed in place, looking at the door. After a long moment, a long, boring moment, the door opened and a blonde woman walked in. Followed by…
The uniform was unmistakable. The confident way he carried himself and cocky little grin even more so. The breath whooshed out of his lungs. Jason. Jason, dressed as Robin, following the woman Dick knew to be his mother. They were talking, but no sound carried. Not in this memory.
The woman, Catherine, and Jason spent a moment chatting happily. Then the door slammed shut. Catherine's mouth moved in an unmistakable "I'm sorry" as the Joker strode forward. Before Jason could react, the crowbar had smashed across his face. Two of Joker's goons pointed their guns at Catherine, keeping her from moving. The Joker started laughing, the first noise that Dick had heard since getting stuck in the memory.
Struggling frantically, to release himself from whatever was keeping him in place, Dick tried. He really and truly tried to run to Jason, to throw himself in between his brother and the crowbar beating down mercilessly. It didn't help that Dick could feel Jason's emotions. With every swing of the crowbar, he was scared, sure, but he was also hopeful. Jason knew Batman would come. Despite having covered his tracks to get here, he knew Batman was too good of a detective to not find him. So Jason was hopeful, scared that his mom would get hurt, worried that if Batman didn't get here soon, the recovery he was getting from this beating would keep him off the streets for ever. Pride when he managed to spit blood on the Joker's face. All of this, to the soundtrack of Joker's mad giggles.
Finally, the Joker seemed to lose interest. The psycho tied Catherine's hands to a support beam and left, his henches following. Jason – despite the broken leg, the crushed rib cage, the arms broken in six places, the dislocated shoulder and hip, and the million other injuries – stood up, shuffling his way towards his mother. He untied her and she pulled his arm over her shoulder. They shuffled their way to the door, but when she tried the knob, it didn't open. Carefully leaning Jason against a nearby crate, Catherine started pounding on the door, trying to get it open, to attract attention. A beeping started, and in the distance, the faint whine of an engine.
The engine noise came closer as the beeping became more insistent. The bomb, sitting in the corner reached 00:01 and several things happened. Brakes screeched, a car door slamming open, Jason threw himself in between Catherine and the bomb. And then the world burned.
"They've been in there a long time Master." Sora sat in his chair, his eyes not leaving the two figures slumped against the wall. "Are you sure there isn't anything we can do?"
Yen Sid sighed at the young Wielder's impatience. "There is not. Trying to assist at this point will only agitate the darkness. They have a better chance if we leave them."
Riku, leaning against the desk, understood Sora's frustration. Both of them were people of action. Dick and Jason were too. Waiting around while someone else fought a battle of life and death wasn't in them. Especially when…
Dick twitched. Ok, that either meant he was waking up or… and it was the second option. Dick's arteries and veins filled with darkness, spilling out into his skin, flaking off and evaporating. Sooner than any one of the room's occupants were comfortable with, Dick was covered in darkness, it coming off of him in puffs of smoke.
Sora immediately dropped to his knees beside his friend. "Master Yen Sid, what happened?! Is there anything we can do?"
In a moment of incredible rarity, Yen Sid stood up and walked out from behind his desk. He knelt down next to Sora and grabbed Dick's hand. "He fell. But the battle is not yet over. If Jason survives his trial, he will save both himself, and his brother."
For the second time in the past five minutes, Jason was sent flying back. His darkness knew all of his tricks, which meant that Xehanort's darkness knew them too, and it had a bunch of extra power behind its hits. He crashed into the fence and sank to the ground a few feet away from Dick. Seriously Dick, wake up any time now. Could use a hand.
As if reading his mind, Dick's eyes flashed open and he gasped for breath. Injuries started appearing on his body, flash burns and bruises and large ugly gashes. Jason knew those injuries. He'd felt all of those injuries.
"DICK!" Jason scrambled over to him, checking his injuries and pulse and vitals and… Still alive. And luckily, it seemed the memory-injuries weren't as powerful as the real deal had been. A broken bone became a fracture. Third degree burns were dropped down to second degree.
Unfocused, Dick's eyes landed on Jason. "Hey Jay. Don' worry bro, 'm ok. 'm jus glad you're alive." He gave a weak cough and his eyes fluttered closed.
The bastard had put Dick into that memory. How. Dare. He?! Pulling off his jacket, he folded it and put it under Dick's head. Gun in one hand and All Blade in the other, he turned towards the darkness.
"You're dead." He choked, emotions showing in a rare moment of desperation and anger. "You just put Dick through a living hell, and now I'm going to do the same to you..."
The dark form in front of him stared with evil yellow eyes, but Jason's gaze, though not glowing, was filled with so much hatred and fury that the darkness flinched slightly.
It is just you and me now, it said. The intruder shall no longer interfere.
Slowly, Jason began to walk forward. "You'll regret what you did to him." he said quietly. Then his anger and hurt seemed to snap and he leapt forward, sword shimmering. "I'll kill you!"
Not-Jason moved fast, seeming to dissolve into dust and reappearing to the right of Jason, whose blade swung down into empty air. He moved quickly, shifting his weight on one foot to swerve around and face it as the darkness swung its blade in a vicious semicircle. Jason ducked, narrowly missing the slash. He could feel it tear at the wind above his head. Instead of attacking with a weapon next, Jason launched himself forward from a crouch, dropping the All Blade to the ground with a clatter, effectively tackling the darkness and sending them both hurtling downwards.
The creature hissed as Jason pinned its arm with the gun while he raised his other hand to strike. But as he brought down his fist, a memory flashed in front of his eyes. He was sitting on a couch, falling asleep next to Bruce, while they watched a movie. Jason shook his head and blinked, then brought his fist smashing into the bastard's face. It was trying to confuse him, dull down his blind rage, but that wasn't going to work. Jason refused to let this thing corrupt any more of his past. He brought his fist down again, revelling at the sound of flesh against flesh. But as he raised his fist for a third time, the darkness seemed to rally and jerked to its right, effectively throwing Jason off.
Rolling away and using the momentum to bound back to his feet, Jason spotted his All Blade and dived for it, discharging his gun in the process. Xehanort's darkness easily dodged the bullets, but had to flip backwards to avoid them, putting some room between the two. Growling, Jason reloaded his gun while running forward. Taking aim, his enemy discharged his own gun, and Jason's ears rang with the resounding bangs as he leapt from side to side, slowly advancing while dodging the deadly aim of his foe. His darkness stopped shooting and looked quickly back. It had come to the end of the roof, and the next building was a good fifteen yards away. It turned its head to see Jason flinging himself forward, sword pointing at its chest. With lightning quick reflexes, not-Jason raised its own Blade, and let the weapon take the full impact of Jason's attack. The force of the blow was too strong however, and it stumbled backwards, losing its footing. Jason had just come to a stop at the buildings ledge when the darkness's hand reached out and clutched at his shirt. Taken by surprise, Jason was pulled forward in a split second and found himself plunging straight down with Xehanort's darkness towards the mist covered ground.
The free fall didn't seem to faze the darkness. It flipped around in midair and expertly fired three shots in Jason's direction, the recoil from the gun leaving it spinning through the air. Jason could only watch as the bullets rushed up at him. He fought against gravity and the howling wind, tearing at his face and clothes, but only managed in deflecting two of the three bullets with the All Blade. Any other time then this, the feat would have made him proud. But as the third bullet tore itself into Jason's side, the following wave of pain left his mind too shocked and numb to celebrate.
The world seemed to dim for an instant before the reality of the quickly approaching ground brought Jason out of his confusion. With an enormous effort, he reached inside his belt and brought out his grappling gun, firing a line to a nearby building. The line grew taught and Jason clenched his teeth as his shoulder was jarred by the speed of his free fall coming to an abrupt stop. Cutting the line, Jason swung down to a nearby fire escape, then began jumping from one metal railing to another. He wanted to check out his wound, but he had to keep all his senses on full alert for the darkness. It seemed to have disappeared when he blacked out.
Reaching the ground, Jason raised his gun and turned quickly around to inspect all his surroundings. It had become far too quiet, the only sound Jason could here being his rapidly beating heart and unsteady breathing. "Come on out," he breathed.
Movement to his right had him firing several shots towards a dingy alleyway. He was savagely delighted to hear a hiss of pain. Suddenly, a shadow burst out from the direction of his shots, and Jason backed up several paces as Xehanort's darkness came charging at him. It raised its sword and Jason raised his own in defence at the thing's sneak attack. The two blades clashed with a sickening metallic ring. Jason stumbled backwards, but launched himself forward again instantly, refusing to show weakness or give his darkness time to regroup. As the darkness dodged his forward attack, he spotted a shimmer of crimson on its shoulder and smirked. So he had hit it.
Jason turned to keep up with his enemy and had to fall backwards to avoid a bullet to the face. He landed on his back roughly and rolled to the side, dodging the dark All Blade which stabbed into the pavement where his chest had been seconds ago. Springing to his feet he aimed a few shots at the darkness's feet, thinking that this might slow it down. The creature merely jumped forward, performing an aerial flip as Jason leapt out of its way. He positioned himself behind it so that as it landed he could plunge his sword forward, confident he had it trapped. But no, nearly too fast for the eyes to see, it had turned itself in midair and was slicing upwards with its sword. Jason lurched back and simultaneously fired a bullet at the darkness's head, which it expertly dodged. He felt its sword clip his chin, but ignored the small hit and fired off several bullets forcing not-Jason to duck and then roll away.
He was breathing heavily now, and a quick look down told him his side was drenched with blood. In fact, his neck and shoulder were still bleeding freely as well. But he had to ignore all of that. Jason had learned early on that dwelling on one's weaknesses in a fight was a weakness in itself. But he felt the exhaustion start to slow him down. Gritting his teeth Jason quickly reloaded his gun before sprinting forward. He would just have to fight through the pain just as he was fighting the darkness. For himself and for Dick.
Surprisingly, the black form in front of Jason seemed tired too. But it was fighting for its life as well, and wasn't about to give up control so easily. Seeing Jason approach, it took a defensive stance, crouching low to the ground, almost like a wild cat. It held its sword in a ready position and lifted its gun. But Jason had a strategy as well. As his enemy fired bullets infused with darkness in his direction, he lunged forward and then dropped low, somersaulting forward twice before using the momentum from his last roll to spring forward and throw his sword at the darkness. It wasn't expecting that, and stopped shooting as it concentrated on blocking the spinning sword aimed for its neck. In that time, Jason shot at the darkness's head while forming the other All Blade in his now empty hand. The darkness succeeded in blocking the first All Blade, and even managed to fall backwards to dodge the bullets flying at its head. But those two maneuvers in quick succession put it off balance. Jason smirked as he gathered himself and jumped into the air, plunging his sword straight towards the bastard's heart. But it surprised him. As it had lost balance and was falling backwards, its sword still flying down from the recoil of the last strike it had made, the darkness dropped its gun and brought its other hand forward and caught Jason's sword. Jason couldn't help but grimace as the sharp blade sliced deep into the creature's yellow-lined hand, dark misty blood dripping from the gold metal. But the action had succeeded in saving its life. And with a jolt of fear, Jason realized that he was the one wide open now, in midair and with his sword caught in his enemy's bleeding hand.
Desperately Jason kicked out at the other's chest as it raised its sword. He felt his feet connect and pushed off of Xehanort's darkness with all his strength as its dark sword was slashed forward. His own sword slipped free and he flew backwards, but not before an excruciating pain across his chest told him he hadn't managed to dodge the blade entirely. With a shudder he found his feet and stumbled back, nearly collapsing as he saw his own blood flying through the air as the darkness swung the now pulsating red All Blade back to its side. Jason clutched at his chest, feeling the deep wound, and struggled to catch his breath while the darkness glared at him. He could taste the coppery tinge of blood in his mouth as his enemy's glowing sword rose. Forcing himself to ignore the temptation to drop to his knees, Jason straightened up and looked at the darkness, who was now pacing slowly forward.
Admit it Jason, it said in a sickeningly soft, buzzing voice. You have lost.
"Go to hell!" He growled, putting as much malice into his voice as possible. "I'm just getting started."
The creature tilted its head, raising its sword as it closed in on Jason. You are stubborn. It said. I never liked that.
Jason laughed humorlessly, fighting the sudden urge to cough. "I could say the same for you."
The darkness suddenly sprang forward, its sword raised to kill, Jason sidestepped it with an agility he didn't know he still had, and thrust his sword out, effectively slashing his enemy's side as it landed. The darkness seemed surprised to see Jason move so fast despite his condition, and even more surprised to see the gaping wound on its side. Its eyes narrowed as it took in Jason, who was now stumbling backwards until he came to a wall he could lean against. His vision was swimming and he coughed weakly into his fist, not surprised to see blood on the back of his hand. He was fading fast and he knew it. They were both injured, but the darkness was still in a condition to fight while he wasn't.
Fighting off the dark mist pushing in around his vision, Jason watched the darkness wearily stride towards him. It was dripping with blood but its eyes clearly said its next strike was meant to kill. In a mad moment of pain and desperation, an idea struck Jason which both made him sick and gave him a flicker of hope. He smiled as he clutched at his chest with his free hand, his gun long discarded on the pavement. Blood slowly dripped down his chin as his darkness came closer and closer. Yup, he was crazy. Absolutely insane. He watched, standing as still as he could as the darkness stopped a few feet in front of him and raised its sword.
Good bye Jason Todd.
It all happened a lot slower than Jason would have liked. His eyes followed the Blade as it streaked towards his heart. He waited, watching it come closer and closer. Its razor edge glinting evilly in the twilight. Closer...
Now!
With all the strength he could, Jason lunged to his left just enough that the sword missed its target by a mere inch. But that was good enough. He cried out in pain through clenched teeth as he felt the cold steel dig deep into his flesh. His stomach lurched with the addition of the awful pain, and he knew he had to move now while he still had a fraction of strength left.
Jason looked up, and for a second glared into the darkness's intelligent yellow eyes, before he gathered his last strands of energy and raised his sword with both hands, plunging it deep into his enemy's heart.
"Good bye."
Instantly the darkness let go of its own Blade and staggered backwards, clutching at the sword in its chest instead. Jason felt the hilt slip from his hands as he slumped to the ground. But he had to stay awake. He didn't know why, but that was extremely important. Stay awake. He told himself thought the pain. Don't pass out. Stay awake.
The darkness was now falling to its knees, its eyes wide with shock. But Jason didn't see any pain in its distorted features. Can it even feel pain? he wondered as it raised its head and let out a blood curdling scream.
Fighting desperately to stay conscious, Jason watched as the darkness gave him one more hate filled glare, before its entire frame seemed to shudder. The top layer of its skin dissolved into dust, which was swept into the night sky. It left behind his darkness, just as it had been when he had first met it. It was just as well because Jason felt the remnants of his strength drain away into nothing.
He could just barely make out his darkness walking slowly towards him. He could have sworn he heard its voice, smooth and uncorrupted, as his consciousness melted away.
Thank you Jason, it said slowly.
He wanted to reply, wanted to get up and make sure it was really over at last, but he had no strength left. He fell to his side, the world becoming dark and cold.
AN: Phew. Long chapter. Lots of action though, which is always nice.
Did anyone notice the differences between Jason's darkness and Jason's darkness possessed by Xehanort's? Specifically, the buzzing voice and yellow lines. Aaaand, that's about it. Oh, Arrow wants to say something. What's up Arrow?
Arrow: Hey guys. It's Arrow here. I would just like to say that my buddy Loxie is totally cray cray. She wrote that hot chocolate bit! It was totally her! I'm innocent I tell you! No but seriously, we both had different ideas of how that happened in our heads, and were never smart enough to discuss them. Take this awesomely violent chapter where we are extremely mean to Dick and Jay as compensation.
Loxare: *Gasp* I did not! Wait... I probably did! But it's still somehow your fault most likely. So there!
Anyways folks, have a wonderful day. And hey! Read and enjoy!