:INTERLUDE 1:
Two weeks. That was how long it had been since the battle with Trigon; immediately following said battle, Raven had Flooed Andromeda Tonks, knowing that her 'Aunt Andi' was a healer at Saint Mungo's. Seeing how distraught her niece was, Andromeda came through immediately, followed by her daughter Nymphadora, who had refused to stay at home once she learned that Beastboy was one of the people injured. Upon seeing how badly the heroes were injured, Andromeda immediately demanded to know what had happened to cause such devastation to the Tower as well as such injuries to the heroes. Unable to lie under her 'Aunt Andi's' stern glare, Raven had told the truth or a version of it at any rate. Raven's version had been that one of their enemies had somehow gotten into the Tower and summoned a demon, which was the reason why everyone was so severely injured. Raven had continued her lie, spinning a tale of how the demon had broken free of the control it had been under and then went on a rampage throughout the Tower, killing the summoner in the process, only to be finally beaten back through the combined efforts of the Titans and the Justice League.
Andromeda had nearly lost her mind upon learning what had happened and had immediately Flooed a few of her colleagues from Saint Mungo's to aid her in helping the injured. Raven had suggested that Andromeda Floo the American Healing Center instead, but Andromeda had immediately dismissed the idea, saying that England's healers were far superior. The next four days were a constant buzz of activity as Andromeda and her three companions used everything in their impressive arsenal to heal the badly injured heroes. Harry's injuries had been the worst of everyone; it had taken all four healers nearly an entire day to repair the damage that Trigon had done to Raven's little brother. Andromeda had even told Raven afterward that Harry's core had been so depleted that she had been afraid of the healers being too late to save Harry from becoming a squib. Still, thankfully, that wasn't the case, as Harry's core seemed to finally be repairing itself after all the potions the healers had, quite literally, shoved down his throat. A few hours after Andromeda and her team began, Aurors from MACUSA had descended on the Tower, demanding to know what had occurred and caused their alarms to go off from the impressive amount of dark magic that they had detected. After telling the cover story a second time, the Aurors sealed off the Tower and detained everyone within it for the next three days to investigate the veracity of Raven's claim: Dr. Fate (someone that was revered by the magical community, the world over) affirmation that Raven was telling the truth had gone a long way to satisfy the Aurors, and as soon as the investigation was complete, they left without issue. Finally, after nearly a week of constant potions and spells, most of the heroes were back on their feet; however, they would still be incredibly sore for the next few days as their natural healing took over where magic had left off in regard to their freshly healed, formerly broken bodies. Despite her mother's repeated insistence, Nymphadora had refused to leave Beastboy's side for the entirety of his healing. It was only when the green shapeshifter finally opened his eyes that she finally allowed herself to be led away to rest, but only after giving her boyfriend a tight hug, followed up with an impressively loud rant about fighting demons.
Once everyone was properly healed, Andromeda sent the other healers back to England; Raven had informed her Aunt that she too could return home if she wished, only for Andromeda to immediately begin a lecture about the idiocy of fighting demons and how Raven should know better than to try and get herself killed so soon after Andromeda and Ted had gotten her back. She then informed Raven that she would be staying for the rest of the summer to keep an eye on her niece and nephew, seeing as how they were apparently unable to do so themselves. Once everyone was properly healed, Andromeda, Raven, Zatanna, and Dr. Fate began the enormous task of repairing the Tower, something that, even with magic, took the four of them almost a week, as the damage was far more extensive than anyone realized.
XXXX
Harry stared out his window at the sea below, hands clasped tight behind his back, as his mind whirled uncontrollably; it had been two weeks since the battle with Trigon. Seven days since he had woken up from his magically induced coma. It was seven days since he had spoken to anyone in the Tower. Hermione and the Weasleys were supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow, yet Harry couldn't find it in himself to be happy about it.
Upon awakening, Harry immediately pushed Raven away when she tried to give him a hug and asked a simple question: Why?
Why had they attacked him the moment he had landed at Titans Tower? Why hadn't they told him what they were planning to do? But the direct question had been directed at Raven: Why had she allowed the League to hurt him so when she swore to never let anyone hurt him again?
Their stuttering answers had not impressed Harry in the least, and upon being released from the infirmary, he had shut himself in his room, refusing to speak to anyone, Raven least of all, despite her pleading. Harry knew he still loved the Titans; they were his family, after all. But that didn't stop the simmering anger he felt at what he viewed as betrayal, for that was what he saw what had happened to him as; they had betrayed him, and rather than talk with him about what was happening, they chose instead to treat him as though he were a bomb ready to go off at any minute. Did they really think he would refuse to let them seal his evil side away had they told him about what was inside him? The more Harry thought about it, the more the memories of the future Trigon had shown him seemed to bombard him. Was that really his destiny? To lose everyone he cared for and then become a monster? As tears slid down Harry's cheeks, he shut his eyes and tried to will the images Trigon had forced him to see away, yet they seemed to attack him even harder, and it took all Harry had not to collapse to the ground and start sobbing.
"Harry Potter! Prepare to meet thy doom!" A voice behind him called suddenly, making Harry spin on the spot, only to smile with delight as he saw who it was; standing on the opposite side of the room, holding a plastic sword, was one of the first friends Harry had made after coming to Jump City, and as he looked at his friend, Harry's mind traveled back to their first meeting.
:FLASHBACK (three years prior):
Harry had traveled to Gotham City with Raven and Robin because Batman needed to speak to the two of them about something important involving someone named Jason. Even though he was told to stay in the hotel room and to not leave under any circumstances, Harry had been curious about the city and had wandered off, once Raven and Robin had left for the Batcave.
Within fifteen minutes, Harry was hopelessly lost and terrified; that fear had been exacerbated when three thugs grabbed him, pulled him into a nearby alley, and demanded his valuables. When Harry told the thugs that he had none, they grew even angrier and began discussing among themselves what to do with Harry. One of the thugs had just suggested selling Harry when a sudden rooster crow made everyone look up to the nearby roof where the strangest-looking person that Harry had ever seen was standing, with his hands on his hips.
The figure was a white boy who looked to be about Harry's age, or close to it, and was wearing the oddest amalgamation of clothing that Harry had ever seen; the boy was wearing a cartoonishly large brown top hat that reminded Harry of the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Adding to the strangely large hat, the boy was also wearing a plum-purple tailcoat over a white dress shirt and bright orange vest, while an overly large bowtie that had tiny yellow smiling skulls on it. To complete the horrifying abuse of color that seemed to make Harry unable to look away, the boy was also wearing forest-green pants and shiny black wingtip shoes. Then, to everyone's amazement, the boy jumped from the roof, a good twenty feet above them, to the ground, performing a spin before taking off his hat and bowing before the stunned watchers. As Harry stared in shock, he saw that the boy had bright red hair and cool blue eyes, which flashed with mischief as he grinned at Harry.
"Good evening, gentleman!" The boy said in a high-pitched voice, showing his youth as he stood back up and placed his hat back on his head, "I am sorry to interrupt what I'm sure was a truly engaging conversation, but could you release my friend there?"
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" One of the thugs asked after a moment of stunned silence.
"Oh, my apologies!" The boy said quickly, "Name's Lunatic. It's a pleasure to meet you all!"
"Lunatic?" One of the thugs said as he stared at the grinning boy,
"Indeed!" Lunatic replied, flashing his teeth again, "I have another name, but it sounds so normal, and normality is the death of life! Or so I'm told. I wouldn't know, to be honest."
The three thugs stared at Lunatic for a moment before the leader pulled a large knife from his belt and leveled it at the boy,
"Listen, kid, I don't know what sort of sick game you're playing, but you'd best run home before I cut your tongue out of your smart mouth!"
"Hmm, an interesting proposal," Lunatic replied, crossing one arm over his chest while he rested the other under his chin in thought, "I have a rebuttal. How about, instead, you all let the kid go before I use your heads as hockey pucks? After all, hockey season is starting soon, and I'm out of practice!"
Harry could practically feel the anger coming off of the three thugs at Lunatic's words, and a moment later, two of the thugs charged the boy while the leader stayed back and held tight to Harry's shirt.
"Olay!" Lunatic shouted excitedly, pulling a red flag from his coat and holding it out at the oncoming thug, who was charging at Lunatic with his arms out as if to tackle the boy. Just as the thug reached Lunatic, the boy disappeared, leaving the red flag hanging in the air as if by magic. Unable to stop himself, the thug ran straight into it, only to crumple to the ground unconscious a moment later as the two remaining thugs watched in astonishment; the reason for the thug's unconsciousness became apparent a moment later as the red flag fell to the ground, showing a large anvil just behind it.
"Where the hell did that come from?!" The second thug demanded as he stared at the thug in shock; before anyone could respond, Lunatic suddenly reappeared from out of nowhere, landing on the thug's shoulder and grabbing his hair-like reins, making the thug thrash around and try and throw Lunatic off as the boy sang in delight.
"Over hill and over dale, we're always on the dusty trail! Hunting fox and hunting quail, heigh-ho, I'm a hunting fool! Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, my horse, and now you're up the final creak! Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, just like the wind, I ride my forward steed. Sure of foot, sure of eye, peeling onions makes me cry! This makes no sense, and neither do I!"
Releasing one hand from his 'reins,' Lunatic pulled a giant hammer from within his coat (though how that was possible was anyone's guess) and brought it down on the thug's head, causing him to collapse to the ground like a puppet who's strings had been cut.
Rolling off the thug's shoulders, Lunatic came up on one knee in front of Harry and the leader, shaking his hands 'jazz hands style,' and finished his song with,
"So don't you go and beat me, Daddy, to the nearest bar, yeah!"
Pulling Harry in front of him like a shield, the leader brandished his knife at Lunatic as the boy rose to his feet and dusted himself off,
"What the hell are you?!" The leader demanded, fear evident in his voice as Lunatic eyed him with a growing smile that sent shivers down Harry's spine.
"I'm Lunatic, and I wanna play!" Lunatic said in a creepy voice. After a moment's hesitation, the leader shoved Harry at Lunatic before spinning around and running away as fast as he could. A few seconds after he was gone, Lunatic suddenly began laughing uncontrollably and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulder as though the two were best friends.
"I love this city!" Lunatic called out happily, "It's filled with so much beautiful chaos and fun!"
"Are you going to hurt me too?" Harry asked in sudden terror, remembering his encounter with the Hive a few weeks before.
"Hurt you?" Lunatic replied with shock, "Why the devil would I do that? We're friends, after all!"
"We are?" Harry asked in shock, never really having had a friend before,
"Of course!" Lunatic replied, "After all, without you, my night would have been frightfully boring! Oh, look! More costume people! What fun!"
Harry looked up to see what Lunatic was talking about, just in time to see Batman, Robin, and Raven descending on them, all with various degrees of worry on their faces. After making sure that Harry was okay, Raven and Robin had demanded to know who Lunatic was; the answer to that question came from Batman, surprisingly, who eyed Lunatic with a careful eye, like a hunter watching a predator.
Lunatic's real name was James Donnelly, and he was the bastard child of Jervis Tetch (aka the Mad Hatter) and one of his many unfortunate victims.
Ashamed of what happened to her and disgusted with the baby that Tetch had forced upon her, the girl had sold James to CADMUS labs when it became apparent that the boy was a meta, with the power to alter reality, thankfully only to a small degree, i.e., his immediate surroundings.
For the next eight years, James' life became one of constant experiments and pain as CADMUS tried to extrapolate and weaponize his abilities; the years had understandably driven the poor boy mad, like his father, and when a chance came for escape, James seized upon it and ran away; but not before bringing the entire facility where he had been kept crashing to the ground. According to Batman, that had been a year ago, and CADMUS had been searching for the boy ever since, with little success. Batman and the League had also begun looking for the boy the moment word reached them about his powers and how he had been raised, but they, too, had yet to be successful in tracking down the kid.
"What are you doing in Gotham?" Batman demanded as Lunatic pulled an enormous lollipop from his coat and began licking it with wanton abandon,
"I came for the fun, of course!" Lunatic replied happily, causing the three heroes to look at him with surprise.
"The… fun?" Robin replied,
"Of course!" Lunatic chuckled, "Gotham is a pit filled with glorious chaos and unlimited potential for mischief and fun! Where else would I go?"
"Why did you save my brother?" Raven asked as she pressed Harry behind her robe,
"Because he was in trouble, silly," Lunatic replied, tilting his head as though Raven was stupid, "Why else?"
"Are you a hero?" Robin asked warily, now knowing who the boy's father was, "Or a villain?"
"Meh, haven't decided yet," Lunatic replied, stowing his lollipop back in his coat, "I'm sort of a bi-meta, you know?"
"That's not the correct usage of that word," Robin replied with a smirk, which Lunatic quickly copied.
"Let's just say that I haven't decided yet if I want to be a good guy or a bad one," Lunatic said, "Let's play it by ear."
Pulling an enormous pocket watch from his coat, Lunatic issued a mock gasp before turning back to the heroes,
"Sorry, gotta go! I'm late for a very important date! Until next time, ta!"
Without another word, Lunatic spun in place and disappeared without a trace, leaving the heroes stunned and looking around in shock.
:END FLASHBACK:
Since then, Lunatic had decided that Harry was his best friend and would always come bothering Harry when he was bored or just wanted to see how Harry was doing. Over the years, the Titans had tried to offer the boy a place among them, but the answer was always the same: not interested.
It seemed as though Lunatic had chosen to become an anti-hero as he jumped back and forth between a good guy and a bad one; one day, he would save a person from being robbed, only to rob a store himself the next day.
"Hey, Loony," Harry said, trying to force his face to smile, only to fail miserably; seeing this, Lunatic stowed his toy sword in his coat and quickly approached his friend, eyes narrowed as he studied Harry's face.
"No, no, no!" Lunatic replied when he was inches from Harry, "This won't do at all!"
Reaching forward, Lunatic pressed his two index fingers to Harry's face and pushed upwards, creating a smile,
"That's better; no friend of mine will be sad as long as I'm around!" Lunatic said proudly, holding Harry's face with his two fingers and forcing Harry to smile against his will. Despite how he was feeling, Harry couldn't help but laugh after a few moments of silence; the laughter quickly turned hysteric as Lunatic joined in.
"That's better!" Lunatic laughed, taking his hands away and placing them on his hips as Harry wiped his eyes.
"Now, what have you feeling so blue today?" Lunatic asked, "Did someone bully you again? Want me to string them up by their tightly whitey? We can make them the flag of our new country! We'll call it…. Tightey-Town!"
"Please don't do that!" Harry laughed, "And no, no one bullied me. I just had a bad couple of days, that's all."
"Well, tell old loony about it!" Lunatic said softly, pulling a fold-out chair from his coat and taking a seat in front of Harry, who shook his head in exasperation at his friend's antics before taking a seat on his bed.
Over the next half hour, Harry told Lunatic what Trigon had done to him and the future that the demon had shown him; Harry then explained how betrayed he felt at what the Titans and the League had done to him. Ordinarily, Harry would never share what had happened to him with anyone; there was just something about Lunatic that made Harry instinctively trust him. Adding three years' worth of adventures and misadventures, Harry could safely say that Lunatic was one of Harry's best friends, something that Lunatic wholeheartedly agreed with.
For several moments, Lunatic simply stared at Harry, following the story of what had happened to him; finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lunatic stood up and punched Harry in the nose, sending him onto his bed with a painful cry.
"What was THAT for?!" Harry demanded as he held his held his nose,
"Because you're an idiot, that's what!" Lunatic retorted angrily, "Do you honestly think I would let you do something like that?! You're my amigo! The world would be unbearably dull if you weren't in it! Who would go making merry with me if you were gone?!"
"I'm sure you'd find someone else," Harry mumbled, instantly regretting it as a hurt look came across Lunatic's face, "I'm sorry, Loony. I shouldn't have said that…."
"Look, Harry," Lunatic said softly, taking off his top hat and running his fingers through his long red hair, "I know I'm not the most normal person, but you're my friend, and I would hate it if something happened to you. Whatever Trigon showed you is a lie. That's what demons do."
"But what if it wasn't?" Harry asked softly, unable to keep the fear out of his voice, "What if I go bad and do those horrible things?"
"I won't let you," Lunatic said softly, putting his hat back on and sitting down next to Harry so that their shoulders touched, "I promise, if the day ever comes where you start going bad, I'll be there to remind you of who you are."
"And who is that?" Harry asked softly, "I'm not sure I even know anymore."
"That's easy," Lunatic replied with a giant smile, "You're my friend!"
For a moment, neither said anything more; until, at last, Harry threw an arm over Lunatic's shoulder and pulled him close,
"Thanks, Loony."
"Anytime, Harry," Lunatic replied quickly, throwing an arm over Harry as well, "Now that you're no longer sad, want to go make merry?"
"I can't," Harry replied with a grimace, "My Aunt Andi put wards all over the Tower to let the Titans know if I leave my room. It's for my own protection, or so she says."
"Wards? Bah!" Lunatic spat contemptuously, "They'll never even know we're gone!"
Without another word, Lunatic pulled his top hat off of his head and threw it to the ground so that it landed upside down.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked in confusion, still not used to all of his friend's powers and abilities, even after all these years.
"This!" Lunatic shouted before grabbing Harry and jumping into the hat as Harry yelled in surprise; a moment later, both were gone, along with the top hat, yet the wards never went off once.
Author's Note:
Lunatic is my own creation, and I hope you all like him as much as I liked writing him; those who don't like him, well, here's a straw so you can suck it up, lol. The song that Lunatic was singing is actually one sung by Daffy Duck, and as such, I claim no ownership of it.
I don't plan on Lunatic being a main character because even I understand how annoying he can be, but I do plan on putting him in a chapter or two every now and then. The next chapter will be out ASAP; until then, stay golden, Ponyboy!