Author Notes: I'll be free of University till late September-early October as of July 1st, so I'll at least be able to get working a little more. Apologies to the readers of this story yet again for the slightly long wait. But I will finish this story! As I've said before, I always endeavour to finish my stories.
So, here is chapter 10 for all of you.
Chapter 10
Withered Flower
"Well, how original." Raven commented dryly.
Actually, Nexus' mindscape seemed fairly similar to her own. A single, floating path of rock about ten foot wide and carrying on for endless miles was what she was currently stood on, which led out to what appeared to be no where. A yellowy-red sky with orange clouds made the place seem to be in the middle of a star close to supernova.
That was it. She wasn't sure if she was expecting to see his emotions split into colours like hers were, but her mind had been the only one she'd ever truly walked in like this. The experience with the body-switch with Starfire was a swapping of minds, so she never got to see inside her head. ... In a manner of speaking.
Raven began walking, wary of taking flight. Instincts derived from training told her that stealth would be best here. She was here to discern if he was trustworthy.
She actually wanted to wring Robin's neck right now.
Nether before had she invaded someone's privacy so. Even as a child, she knew this: you do not enter someone else's mind like this without the persons permission first. But this was for the safety of her friends, even if Starfire was blinded by 'family' loyalties. From the first time she'd seen this crimson red-haired boy fighting in that cage, something about him seemed... unstable. Not in the sense that he could attack you at any moment, it was... something she couldn't place.
After ten minutes of walking along this rocky road, she saw what looked to be an island in the distance. A short flight their, and she arrived to see absolutely nothing. Just a flat piece of grey land.
She was sure that even Beast Boy's empty head was more interesting than this place.
Seriously, at least she had a maze and emotions flying around in her head.
She looked around. Nothing. She groaned. She'd barely been here five minutes and it already seemed like a wasted trip. If she couldn't find anything, then what was the point?
Her brow creased as her irritation rose.
Then, when she looked to her right, she saw him. The unmistakeable crimson red hair, white top and long robe that substituted his pants. His back was to her, and he was...
... chuckling?
Something wasn't right though. That chuckling, it was almost... it was evil. It was mad. The sound of someone insane. Was he trying to scare her? He was failing miserably.
Nexus suddenly burst out laughing as he spun to face the ashen-skinned super-heroine. It was then Raven noticed two things: one, his hair was much rougher and wild than it was before, and two, his eyes... No iris's. No pupils. Just white.
White eyes that bore into her own, and all around her a sense of pure rage filed her senses, almost driving her wild at how sudden it was.
A maniacal, toothy smile decorated his face.
He was berserk!
There was a knock at the door. Who would call at this time?
She walked to it and opened it as far as it would go with the chain lock still attached, allowing her left eye to look out.
Before her stood a tall, tanned girl with red hair, smiling politely but nervously, her arms by her sides, and wearing a form fitting blue top that came down to the start of her stomach, and a form-fitting blue skirt.
The well known Teen Titan, Starfire.
"Can I help you?" The Asian teenager – the owner of this apartment – asked.
"I apologise for disturbing you at such a late time," Starfire began courteously, "but I am told that a boy about my age entered this building a short time ago. He has hair a similar colour to mine, and wears... unusual clothing for this planet. I was wondering if you had seen him."
The Asian girls reply was simple. "I've been sleeping."
"So you have not seen him?" Starfire asked innocently.
"No. If that's all?"
"It is. I apologise." Starfire gave a small, short bow, having the door quietly closed in her face.
The girl on the other side of the door, meanwhile, turned about and heaved out a sigh of relief as she leant against the door.
"What kind of thief needs a Titan knocking at their door?" On the outside Cheshire had been calm; inside she was rattling with irrational fear. The Titans didn't know her face, and how could Starfire even know it was her?
She heard a groan from the adjoining bedroom.
It seemed that the red-haired boy was having a rough night.
The berserk thing suddenly lifted from his feet to about a foot in the air and flew headlong at Raven, all the while that insane smile and pure white eyes staring at her with unseen eyes.
What was this? Was this an emotion? Was his head like her, and this was the emotion of anger, represented in it's purest form? That seemed to be the most logical explanation right now. She's never actually been into another person's head like this. To her, it was taboo without the persons permission, and she'd never actually had a need to anything like this before, let alone ask. Even on Azarath, such a thing was considered a taboo among others. They were empaths, not psychic.
Raven brought both her hands up in front of her, arms straight, and rose a dome of her black energies around her. The insane Nexus simply crashed straight into it, nearly breaking Raven's fragile concentration and shattering the life-giving dome.
Since she had never been in a persons head like this before, she'd didn't know what would happen if she were to be killed within another persons mind; would her mind return or would her body remain as a soulless lump?
She pushed with her powers sending this Nexus spinning backwards until he stopped himself in mid-air. Her dome shrunk until it shimmered around her two hands, making the outline of her hands appear white. He in turn created two orbs of energy, cupped by his hands, still chuckling as he eyed the intruder of the mind...
And then, just as suddenly as the attack had begun, the attack ended.
This was due to the fact that one Nexus had just ousted another.
A second of the boys had come from nowhere, from the insane Nexus' left side, and landed one solid flying kick into the side of his head, flying straight and true like an arrow. The insane Nexus was sent flying away and falling into the endless, brightly coloured abyss beneath the rocky path.
Raven allowed her powers to retreat and stood upright, eyeing up this second Nexus cautiously. Again, it was all the same clothing; and again, the difference was the hair. This one's hair was a slightly dulled white – whiter than his clothing – and stood in spikes that were more horizontal than anything else. His eyes were the same, brown colour this time; she could see that.
Another emotion, maybe?
But that suddenly didn't seem to make sense. She could feel that this Nexus wasn't insane with rage... but...how to place it...? He was darker.
Well, her emotions – if you wanted to be as cynical as that – could be placed fairly evenly into categories of dark and light. But she had seen no other Nexus' besides this one and previous one; with the fight just now they all should've come running to see what was happening, especially if their were foreign energies being used.
They hadn't.
This one had, but where were the rest?
The second Nexus presented her with a grinning smile as he walked up to her, finally coming to stand face to face with the ashen-skinned mage. His smile was... devious. She kept her firm demeanour, calm and in control, she would not allow herself to be suckered into mind games or lose her control. Here, if that were to happen, it would quite literally wreck his mind. And part of her liked the thought for a moment, the part of her that despised this boy that seemed to want to constantly annoy her with his un-witty sarcasm.
"Welcome to my head." The white-haired Nexus said in a charming tone, his grin still present. "Insane psychos in the basement, me on the first floor, and the second floor? Nothing of interest."
Well, at least this one talked the same, if in what some would call a 'posh' voice. "Charming." Raven's disparaging retort lingered in the air.
The second Nexus' grin darkened suddenly as he turned his head down slightly. "Now..." A right hand suddenly went around her throat, and she felt her bones bend and creak as she was shoved into a rocky outcrop, a small crater around her whole body from the massive impact. The white-haired Nexus' face was suddenly incredibly close to hers, separated by barely a millimetre at the lips. He whispered to her. "Let's talk about why you are here."
Only the use of her powers had saved her from serious harm. Her eyes glowed white as she used them again, wrapping them around the body of the boy. Slowly, his grip loosened as she forced his hand off her throat, and she forced him slowly backwards, hovering him in the air. She herself floated out from the rocky outcrop, she floated above him, her cloak gracefully falling around her.
She released her powers, all the while he was still grinning that smiling grin. He dropped perfectly, landing on his feet like it was second nature.
"That wasn't very nice." He suddenly disappeared in a burst of blinding speed, and reappeared behind her. "I'm going to have to hurt you for that." Raven made no move. She wouldn't give him the pleasure. One thing was clear; yet again, this was not Nexus. Not the annoying one she knew. "Hurt you... in a nice way." She heard him chuckle, could feel his breath impacting the skin on the back of her neck. Could he see the hairs there standing to attention? "He's wanted to do that since the day he met you, you know?"
Raven spun around and glared, but did nothing else, even as he continued talking.
Who was he? This one was just...
"I know everything about him." He sneered, turning his nose up at her, treating her like a lower life form. "That other one you met before is just a dumb animal. I however, am smart; smarter than him. Smarter than both of them." He closed his eyes and brought his nose down once more, unconcerned about what Raven could potentially do to him, the yellow-red sky above them a sickly backdrop to their little confrontation. "If he'd let me, I'd solve all his problems, one by one. And I'd enjoy it." He opened his eyes again, they clearly twinkled with pleasure and malice as they bored through her skin. "I'd enjoy showing him how easy it would be to solve all his problems."
Raven's eyes suddenly burst open as she saw a horrible, disgusting image in her head.
A small boy, red hair, wearing the same clothes as the white-haired teen before her, but obviously smaller; only those clothes were almost totally stained red as the boy looked at the ground. A woman was holding the boy, her arms around him like protective wrappings; and for some reason, she knew it to be his mother. She could only a brown robe around her, clearly cut and torn very recently. Around them were the bodies of three men, their insides spewed around the entire room, one with their mouth open so wide that his jaw was clearly detached from it's joints. It made her want to puke.
"I'd enjoy getting revenge on anyone and everyone."
A second and third image, from only a minute before the first one. The second, of the four year boy, clearly resembling the berserk Nexus from only a short time ago. He ploughed through the stomach of two men, his face and distinguishing unseen in the darkness of a room at night. The third image was of the white-haired, darker Nexus before her at the age of four, grinning sadistically at he slowly plunged his thumbs into the eye sockets of a third man, bursting them like paint balls, before grabbing his lower jaw, pulling that down so far is became detached from the joints, before finally pushing that bloody right hand into his stomach, and firing an exploding ball of pure light blue energy, delighting in the painful, horrific death the man was experiencing, licking his lips in sheer pleasure.
"But he won't let me." The white haired Nexus continued; and Raven noticed now that his voice was slightly deeper than the Nexus she knew. "At least, not until you came along. You see-"
This white-haired Nexus was cut off himself, and Raven felt a huge gust of wind come from her left, as if a cannonball had just hissed past her. She clenched her fists. She was afraid. Afraid... impossible! How could she be afraid? This was just a mind-scape, she couldn't die here. Could she? No, it was not him he was afraid off, it was what she had seen. Only once before had she seen something so horrifying, and that was when Trigon had come along; but even then there where no corpses, just statues. But those... had been turned into lumps of flesh, and she didn't know the reason. And it was done by Nexus... when he was a child.
She clenched her eyes turned to her left, outstretched her arms and readied herself, only to see a third Nexus jamming his right knee into the gut of the white-haired version. The second Nexus then received a quick right fist into the chin, sending him skyward. A final blast of one energy ball from the third Nexus' hand impacted the white-haired Nexus, and he vanished in an explosion of ash
Raven lowered her arms back to her sides and hovered back down to Earth, inwardly thankful to be back on solid ground, if it could even be called that. The third Nexus – what she could tell was the one on the outside as well – landed just in front of her with his back turned. Even though his clothing, she could she his that his back muscles were as tense as tightly stretched piano wire, and she could easily see his fists shaking. A quick, cleansing breath allowed her to fully regain her composure.
"Nexus." She heard an unearthly growl from him. "I-"
His voice started off as barely a whisper... "Do you have any idea what YOU'VE DONE?!?!?!?" ... And ended in a roar as he spun to face her, his form towering over hers, despite them being at the same height; and his brown eyes full of anger. "Do you?!?!"
Raven just gave him a cold stare, apparently not knowing or caring. Nexus' brown eyes seemed shrunken at how wide his eyes were. He spun back around and walked a few steps away, an unearthly growl emanating from deep within his stomach that seemed to make everything around him vibrate.
"You've just managed to break every single lock I placed on those two." His voice was deathly cold. "And you violated my mind! Why?"
"Orders."
"Orders?" Nexus replied incredulously, his voice's volume now at a more normal level. "Orders? Are you so used to listening to what other people tell you that you blindly follow them?"
"Trust me," Raven began in a cold tone, trying to assert her control over the situation, "the idea of coming into your mind disgusted me just as much as it does you. But I agreed with Robin on this point; we had to know if we could trust you."
"So you didn't trust what Starfire said?"
Raven stopped dead cold. Did she? Had she ever? From the very moment she had seen him, she had been mistrusting, it was just how she had learned to cope. She forced anyone away with coldness and mistrust, and she doubted that she could ever rid herself totally of this nature due to the simple fact that her powers still required her to meditate and that she had taught herself to do this since being a child.
Nexus continued, picking up a new topic. "So you saw?"
"I saw it, yes." Raven looked down to the ground to her right, the brown rocks not helping the growing grinding feeling in her stomach. "How... I mean... You were..."
"Four years old, to be precise." He turned around and stared seriously at Raven. "Those other two you saw were other me's. They were created when I killed those men."
"Why?"
"Mother's can bring out the worst in you."
She was quite amazed. This kind of situation, and he could still joke sarcastically so sonn after exploding at her. And she agreed with him. Her relationship with her mother had been strained, but due to the fact she'd detected the sarcasm from him, she guessed it meant something different.
"Might as well tell you." Nexus sighed. "On my world, it's... xenophobic, in a sense. Any outside blood is thought of as a poison, and anyone carrying it is considered worse than an animal, and are treated accordingly." Nexus's brown eyes continued to stare at her as her wide orbs could only look back, her conciousness seeming distant as she took it in. "And those who 'copulate' with aliens are thought of as traitors to the species. She was going to be raped. I defended her."
Raven was silent.
At four years old, he had... mutilated three men. He'd explained the reasons, but... God, no wonder he's so distrustful of others. And Starfire was protecting him.
She had committed the worst possible crime, violating another person's mind, and she may very well have made things so much worse for everyone.
Nexus turned around again, and began walking away along the rocky, barren path before him. "I was told there was an underground base where this whole situation is originating from. Tell Robin to check it out, I'm sure you'll find something. Now..." He stopped and looked at her from over his right shoulder, his brown eye looking to be almost a malevolent red due to the distance between them. "Get out of my head!"
She jerked.
She looked around.
The foul grime on the curved walls around her, the stink of days collected waste. She was back in the sewer, the real world hovering above the dark water below her in a cross-legged position. She realised that she felt damp all over. How long had she spent in there? Time between this world and the time spent in the mind could sometimes become distorted.
"Raven." She recognised the voice, that of their leader. Robin. "Anything?"
She jerked forward, quickly smacking her right hand over her mouth. More than you'd care to know about.
He sat up, sweat caking his entire body like a layer of fat on a cooking piece of meat. He felt disgusting, dirty. And not just because of the sweat.
"You're up." He looked up to see Cheshire standing in the doorway, the light from the other room making her seem like a shadow.
He groaned miserably, placing his head in his hands and using his fingers to rub his temple.
He could hear them. One laughing. The other trying to plant subtle and very alluring suggestions into his head.
The Asian thief lifted an eyebrow at his behaviour, but understood it. "Not surprised. You were certainly getting enough exercise while you were asleep." She laughed a little, trying to lighten the mood as she flicked on a light switch, bathing the room in light from the ceiling. "Drink?"
Nexus squinted his eyes as they adjust to the sudden increase in light. "Please." He croaked, his throat feeling incredibly rough and dry.
Cheshire turned about and walked into the adjoining room, leaving him in the room and the blackness behind his eyelids.
They wouldn't shut up. They wouldn't be quiet. They spoke together in a strange melody and melding of words, but he could hear both distinctly.
"Kill!! Kill them all!!!"
"I just want to help you. I'm your friend. I could solve all of your problems in a flash. I can make you happy."
"Be quiet."
"Kill them now!! I know you enjoy it. Seeing their blood... It feels warm, doesn't it?"
"I can satisfy your urges. The urge for vengeance. The urge to... subdue any who would stand against you, like Raven. And the urge to... 'reward' those who help you. Like Starfire, for example."
"I said-"
"Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help"
"Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help"
"Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help""Kill""Help"
"Kill""Help"
"SHUT UP!!!!!"
And as he roared at the ceiling where they weren't, they were silent.
Nexus' breathing went heavy, and his ears went hard. He could hear nothing but a strange ringing.
Then he saw the familiar blackness that told you it was time to sleep.
And sleep he did.
Author Notes: I think these chapters keep getting shorter. shrugs Well, as long as you enjoy reading it, I'm sure it doens't matter. I certainly enjoyed writing this chapter, despite how long it took. I've always thought that sometimes a slightly shorter chapter can help break things up. They'll get longer in the future, I'm sure.
Well, till next time.