CHAPTER 6
"He healed me," Gar says, pressing a hand to his chest as he leans back against the piano. Rachel's father talks in a hushed tone to her mother across the room.
"You feel completely better?" I question, beyond skeptical.
"It worked. It really worked." Rachel smiles, seeming to be relieved and not worried at all. Gar nods, though still seems suspicious, as I am.
Suddenly, the front door bursts open and Dick races through. Thank God, I think, straightening up. He'll know what to do. But the moment he steps foot into the living room, he freezes in place, completely unmoving.
"What the hell?" I step forward and look at Rachel's dad, whose gaze is concentrated on Dick. "What are you doing to him?"
"What's going on?" Rachel questions. "Dick! Dick, can you hear me?" But he's completely immobile, almost like he's unconscious.
Slowly, his eyes begin to darken until they are consumed by black that spindles out across his cheeks.
Rachel walks closer to him, slipping out of my grasp as I try to hold her back. "Dick," she begs as she approaches him. "Dick, please. Talk to me." She spins around to face her father. "Let him go!"
"This was not my doing," he says. "This was his."
"Shut the fuck up, what does that even mean? Whatever you've done to him, undo it!" I demand, holding Gar close.
Rachel's father smiles at me and takes slow steps toward me. "I offered your friend a path that wound down many roads but ultimately he chose his own way, to embrace his darkness rather than deny its existence. He tried to flee from who is, from what he is."
Gar and I back up. "Rachel," I breathe. "Rach, we gotta go. We gotta go now."
"With Trigon's blessing, he is part of our family now," Angela says, stroking a hand down Dick's cheek. "You can all join our family, if you wish."
Beside me, Gar freezes. I look at him, pull at his arm and call out his name but he won't move. His eyes start to darken, just like Dick's did.
"Oh fuck." I back away, toward Rachel.
"No, Gar!" She cries out.
"Everyone will leave you, dear girl. By their own hand or in ashes. You will lose everyone. It's heartbreaking, isn't it?" Trigon says to Rachel, a mocking undertone to his stupid sermon. He smirks. "Let your heart break. It's inevitable."
"Do you ever stop talking?" I grab Rachel's hand and yank her away from her crazy parents. We run down the hall, toward the back door and hear thundering footsteps behind us. I glance over my shoulder to see Dick and Gar marching after us. They wear matching blank expressions. "Go, go, go!" I shout at Rachel, pushing her toward the back door. She yanks it open but when we step through, we aren't outside. Instead, we're upstairs in a bedroom.
We both look around us in confusion. "What the hell is happening?" I mutter. "How did we-…?"
"I don't know," Rachel pants. "We need to figure out how to get out of here."
We run out into the hallway, but it begins to elongate, like it's stretching on forever.
"Rachel!" Dick's booming voice echoes off the warping walls. "Come out and play!"
"Back in the bedroom!" I shove her back inside and slam the door closed behind us.
"We've got to get Dick and Gar back to normal. If I can talk to them, make them hear me—"
"Are you crazy? You think the power of love is going to get us out of this? Don't be fucking naive!" I snap, pushing a chest of drawers across the doorway to block it off.
"Rachel!" It's Gar this time, calling out to her. There is a thump on the door and Rach and I both flinch back.
"Let us in, Rachel," Dick calls through. Rachel begins to step forward and I try to pull her back.
"What are you doing?" I hiss at her.
"I can get through to him. I know I can." She yanks out of my grip and stands before the door, her hands planted on the chest of drawers. "Dick! If you can hear me, you have to fight this! You have to! You said you wouldn't leave us, you promised!"
There is a loud crash, like the sound of a boot hitting plaster, and the whole doorframe shakes.
"No! No we gotta find a way out of here!" I shout at her as she backs away.
"There's a door!" She points at the wall beside us and we see a small cut out in the wallpaper, just large enough for us to fit through. The whole room rattles as Dick or Gar try to kick in the door again. The chest of drawers slides across the ground.
Rachel pries open the small door in the wall as I peer out the window. "Rachel, look." I nudge her. Outside, in the yard, Hank, Dawn, Jason, Kory and another woman I don't recognise all stand together.
"They came!" Rachel gasps.
"We've got to find a way to get to them," I tell her as we crouch down and slip through the little doorway. It leads to a dark corridor, one I can't possibly imagine is part of the farm house. The hallway stretches on and on as we race down it. It feels like we've been running for hours and also no time at all.
Trigon is definitely fucking with us.
"Who was the woman, outside, with the others?" I ask Rachel as we jog down a spiralling staircase.
"Donna Troy. She was a Titan with Dick - Wonder Girl," Rachel explains.
"We've got the whole fucking squad here. No way he can beat all of us, right?" I puff, trying to be optimistic for once.
We round a corner and skid to a stop when we arrive right back where we started; the living room. Our friends are all gathered around, their backs facing us.
"Oh thank God," Rachel gasps as we slump into one another.
However, the relief we feel is short-lived. Jason, Kory, Donna, Gar, Hank and Dawn all slowly turn around. But they're not themselves anymore.
"No!" Rachel exclaims as I grab her arm, pulling her even closer.
Their black, soulless eyes stare at us with no emotion, no warmth. They're no longer themselves.
"Fuck," I breathe. We're on our own…against some of the strongest people in the world.
"Don't fight it, Rachel." Dick's voice makes me flinch. I look over my shoulder to see him come to stand behind us. "This is who we all are, inside."
"Bullshit. This is some mind control crap," I say, glaring at Rachel's father, who stands proudly behind his brainwashed acolytes.
"They're still in there," Rachel declares.
"No. They aren't." Trigon looks so smug, so sure of himself. His eyes flick over my shoulder, looking at Dick. "Cue the final betrayal."
Rachel and I start backing up, toward the corner, as the others move forward, their eyes pinned to me. Trigon wants Rachel to break down, to give in to him. He wants to crush her soul and, judging from the murderous look in his eye, I think I know how he wants to do it. I push Rach away from me, even as fear consumes me, even as my hands shake and my bottom lip trembles.
She has to be alright, she has to make it through this. She can beat him.
I turn to tell her just that, to tell her to remain strong, but instead I come face to face with Dick.
His empty eyes bore into me, burrowing under my skin and making me shudder.
His hand comes up and cups my cheek, almost tenderly, his thumb smoothing back my hair. "I've been waiting so long to do this," he says, his voice not his own, and my eyebrows furrow.
The next thing I feel is blinding pain. It is so sudden and shocking that I don't even realise what's happened for a few moments. Then I look down and see the knife embedded in my stomach. His hand is wrapped firmly around the handle, holding it in place.
It burns as he slowly draws it out of me, like someone is holding a lighter against my insides. I can't cry out or even breathe and I can't look away from his dead gaze. The black tendrils spindle across his face like an infection spreading from his eyes outward. It is a haunting sight to behold.
Rachel screams but she sounds so far away. It's like a bubble forms around Dick and I, like we're the only two real things left in the world. My legs tremble, the pain nauseating. He winds his arm back and drives the knife into my gut again. This time, I cry out, clutching his jacket to stay standing. The hand resting on my cheek tightens, his fingers curling into my hair and tugging me toward him. I topple forward, driving myself further down on the blade. I can feel it inside of me, a sharp and agonising intrusion.
I clutch at his shoulders, trying to remain upright, trying to get away from the pain. He yanks the knife out of me and I crash onto the ground, clutching my stomach. Blood flows freely through my fingers, spilling onto the hardwood floors beneath me.
Rachel's face swims into view and I feel her touching my arms, feel her tears splashing onto my cheek.
My vision is blurry as she stands and faces her father. She screams and the whole world shakes with her pain, the windows bursting into fragments.
Her father comes forward and sticks his hand into her chest. He rips her beating heart out and I am powerless, unable to do anything, unable to save her. The last thing I see before I pass out is my worst fear realised; Rachel's body drops to the floor.
She's dead.
~O~
I swim in and out of consciousness. Pain radiates across my entire body, down to my toes. At the same time though, it's like I can't feel anything at all. I am numb to my surroundings, blissfully unaware of the horrific, world-ending event occurring outside this quaint, little farmhouse.
When the fog in my head starts to clear, I look down and inspect the wounds on my stomach. They are covered by so much blood that I can't really see anything. My hands are coated in blood as well, my shirt ripped and tattered from the knife. My head lolls back and I get a glimpse of Rachel behind me. She's…standing. Alive. Decidedly not dead.
My heart hammers in my chest, hope blossoming. I try to crawl forward but am stopped as that temporarily displaced pain comes rushing back like a tidal wave. My teeth sink into my lip in an attempt to stop myself from crying out. I don't think I have the energy to scream anyway.
Hands shaking and head spinning, I claw my way across the room, my fingernails scraping along the hardwood floors. I see the smear of blood I've left in my wake and drag myself forward another foot.
I'm not far from Rachel now.
"Rach…" I breathe out and she looks over her shoulder at me. Her eyes are black, a red gem shining in the middle of her forehead. "No, no." The hope in my chest dies a quick and painful death as I slump further onto the ground, the last remnants of my energy bleeding out of me. It was my job to protect her and I failed…
I cough up blood, the metallic taste bursting in my mouth. Rachel crouches down in front of me, her head tilting to the side. There is no emotion on her soft features. It's all been drained out of her, stolen by Trigon and his brainwashing ways.
Before, I made fun of her for believing in the power of love. But now, it's all I have left. "Rachel, please. Come back to me. Please, Rach." I reach out and touch her hand and I remember every moment that led us here, the good and the bad.
I remember the first day I met her, in our high school's parking lot, when I defended her against some pathetic bullies. I remember the first time we laughed together and the first time she cried on my shoulder. I remember hugging her and finally feeling like I had someone who was mine, someone who loved me as much as I loved them.
My fingers wrap tightly around hers and she gasps, the black veins beneath her eyes fading away. Her face returns to normal, emotion flooding in. "Will!" She drops to her knees and cups my cheeks. "I'm so sorry," she cries but I shake my head.
"We have to—have to stop your father…" my voice trails off as I slump onto the floor. Rachel quickly moves her hands down to my stomach, hovering over the stab wounds. She closes her eyes and her face morphs into one of concentration.
It takes a few moments, but the pain begins to dull, slipping away from me until it is gone completely. I feel my skin stitch itself back together and then I am rejuvenated, my energy returning. I sit up quickly and pull up the remnants of my shirt. Blood still covers most of my stomach, but the wounds are gone. I'm healed. Rachel clasps her hands into mine and helps pull me to my feet.
"You need to defeat your father. You're the only one that can," I tell her and she nods, looks over her shoulder.
"I need to get Dick back first," she says. "You reached me. There has to be a way to reach him."
I decide against expressing my doubts and watch as she approaches him. She touches his elbow and he turns on her, demon-like eyes startling enough to make me flinch. It takes everything in me not to instinctively pull her away, out of danger.
"Dick, listen to me. You taught me how to let go of the darkness. You have to let it go too. This isn't you. You have to remember who you really are." Her eyes slide shut and she presses her fingers against his temple. It's quiet for a few moments.
"Rachel?" I hiss but neither she nor Dick move a muscle. "Rach?"
Just as I'm about to start panicking, I see the black fade from Dick's eyes. He blinks and Rachel smiles, opening her own eyes. "I missed you," she says. "Welcome back."
His gaze darts over her shoulder to me and I quickly look away.
"We have a pretty pressing issue outside," I remind them and Rachel nods.
"It's time I have a minute alone with my father," she declares.
~O~
The bathroom light flickers. Glass crunches under my boots. The authorities - police, FBI probably - will be here soon. Trigon caused quite the climatic disruption, though it never got too far. Rachel stopped him and everyone is back to normal.
All is right in the world, I suppose.
But I don't feel quite right, cleaning the blood off my stomach with an old, damp towel. My ruined shirt sits in a pile by the sink. I lift up the bottom of my bra and clean the skin beneath it as well as I can. When all the blood is gone, I touch the smooth skin of my stomach. There are no wounds, no scars. It's like nothing ever happened. But something did happen; I can feel that knife inside of me every time I close my eyes.
The floorboards outside the bathroom creak and Dick appears in the doorway, his expression all tense and serious.
There is a moment where his eyes dart down, over my bra and bare stomach, but it goes by so quickly that I almost think I imagined it.
"Here, grabbed this from the car." He holds out one of his t-shirts.
"Thanks," I murmur, taking it from him and slipping it over my head. I tuck the excess fabric into my jeans.
"Will, I'm—"
"You don't have to say it," I interrupt him, avoiding his gaze by wringing out the red-tinged towel under the tap. "It's fine. It wasn't you."
"I do have to say it. It's important that you know." He steps across the threshold and into the bathroom, standing close beside me. My hands stop moving, the water from the tap rushing over them. The air in my lungs is held captive as I stop breathing.
Sincerity seeps into every word that leaves his mouth. "Will, I'm sorry. It wasn't me. I would never hurt you."
Without meaning to, I puff out a skeptical laugh and turn to look at him. "Really? I distinctly remember you looking me dead in the eye and saying, and I quote, 'I've been waiting so long to do this'."
My anger or indignation thaws at the genuine guilt in his warm, brown eyes.
"That wasn't what I meant," he says.
"What did you mean?"
His lips press together and he shakes his head. "I don't—…I don't know."
For a heartbeat, we just stand and stare at each other. The sound of our uneven breaths is only drowned out by the steady stream of water hitting porcelain. I take a step back and turn the tap off, dumping the towel beside the sink. I don't know who I was cleaning it for anyway; Rachel's mother is dead.
"The others are waiting for us," I mutter, wiping my wet hands on my jeans. He nods jerkily and steps aside so can I slip past him. I walk out of the bathroom and into the living room. I blink at my blood, smeared across the floor. It's dry now, but it's stained the hardwood and the rug in a way that won't ever wash out.
I walk out of that house and vow never to step foot back inside it.
~O~
I decide to leave the crappy, cheap car I bought behind. Dick, Rachel, Jason, Gar and I are going in Donna's car, so I suppose I don't really need it. I grab my bag out of the trunk and walk down the road to where the others are.
Rachel squeezes my arm as I pass her, giving me a smile. She looks different, like having her heart ripped out inextricably changed her.
At Donna's car, I pull open the back door and slide my bag inside. Dawn approaches me, leaning her shoulder against the car.
"How are you doing?" She asks, soft-voiced, serene smile in place.
"Fine, except that I'm going to be stuck in a car with Dick for the next however many hours. I can't think of anything worse." She laughs and I give her a look. "What?"
"It's just funny," she shrugs, her white hair swept elegantly over her shoulder.
"That's funny to you?"
"Oh come on. You and Dick hating each other, never getting along? It's ironic."
I shrug. "How's it ironic?"
"Because you two are the exact same," she says whole heartedly. My eyes almost bulge out of my head.
"How on earth do you figure that?"
Dawn takes my hand in hers. Her palms are impossibly soft. "At your core, you're both protectors. You dedicate your lives to helping those that need you. You take in strays and care for them because you were both once strays yourselves. You and Dick are two sides of the same coin, Will."
It takes me a moment to process the truth of what she's saying. And when I do, it makes me unbearably uncomfortable. I pull my hand away from her and busy myself with tucking my bag under the backseat to make room. It's going to be a squished ride to wherever Dick is planning to take us.
We say goodbye to Kory, Donna, Dawn and Hank. Piling into the car is a chaotic affair, with Rachel and Gar arguing over who's going to ride in the front seat.
Jason jumps into the boot of the car, lounging down in all the space back there.
"You know that's illegal," Gar says to him from beside me, having lost the battle with Rachel for the front seat. "There's no seatbelt back there."
Jason laughs and laughs.
"Where are we going?" Rachel questions and the rest of us fall quiet as Dick starts the car.
He hesitates. "It's a mystery."
I roll my eyes and lean back against the window, throwing my legs up onto Gar's lap. Dick is annoyingly vague, as always, but at least we're all alive and safe. We're together and that's what matters.
~O~
We've been driving for hours. In the late afternoon, we stopped for a toilet break and Gar and Rachel swapped places. Now, as the clock approaches midnight, Rach and I sit together in the back seats, our legs touching.
"Can I ask you something?" Rachel speaks quietly. The only other person awake is Dick, in the driver's seat, but she speaks low enough that he shouldn't be able to hear.
I hum and nod, a little tired.
"When we were apart did you…did you use?" She asks and I sit up straighter, blinking. "Dick told me, about the pills. He didn't tell me till after I sent you away. I thought…I mean, you told me you quit well over a year ago."
"I know. I did quit." I sound a little more defensive than I ought to. Dick glances back at us in the rearview mirror and I shuffle closer to Rachel.
"But…when you were alone…?"
"I didn't use," I whisper emphatically.
"Ok. Ok," she nods. "I'm not judging, Will."
"Aren't you?"
"No." She shakes her head, her eyes serious. The red gem in her forehead glows softly in the low light. "Never. I'm just checking. I fucked up when I sent you away and I'm sorry. I wanted to make sure that I didn't…"
"I'm fine, Rach. Everything is fine," I assure her. She seems partially convinced; enough to drop the subject, anyway.
~O~
It takes us over two days to drive to San Francisco. By the time we all pile out of the car, parked in the garage of a fancy building, I think we're just about ready to kill each other. I need some space away from them like I need air to breathe.
First though, after Dick types in a long code on a security panel, we have to squash into the elevator and ride it all the way to the top. The doors slide open, revealing a spacious penthouse with a view over all of San Francisco. It's impressive to say the least.
"Titans Tower," Gar breathes, his eyes wide with awe. He and Jason run off in opposite directions to explore.
"Wow," Rachel huffs, moving forward to look out the panel of windows that stretches across the entire wall. I hesitate, wondering how I could possibly fit in here. I'm not Titans material; I never will be. I don't have superpowers and don't have the will or discipline to learn how to fight.
And, after defeating her father, Rachel really doesn't need me anymore.
"She still needs you," Dick says, very quietly, from beside me. My head snaps to look at him. How did he know what I was thinking? I carefully school my features into a mask of indifference.
"I don't know about that," I mutter.
"We all need you." He looks at me and there is something in his eyes that I haven't seen before, something new and blossoming.
I swallow around a lump in my throat and walk forward, to Rachel's side at the windows. She rests her head on my shoulder, her blue hair tickling my cheek.
"What is this place?" She asks Dick when he comes up to her other side.
He smiles, looking over the city laid out before us. "Home."
~O~
A/N: I hope those who are reading are enjoying the story so far. If you have any thoughts, I'd really love to hear them in a review. Thanks!