Fan Fiction ❯ Hell Hath No Fury ❯ True Motivation ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: True Motivation.

Darkness. There was nothing but darkness around the Reaper. No matter how far he ran, nothing was ever there. Nothing could be seen. Nothing existed but him. Yet, he was far from alone. Ever since his powers emerged, he was never alone. However, not even he wanted the company he kept.

“You failed me, servant,” a voice echoed from behind the Reaper.

The Reaper swiftly spun around and was met by four glowing red eyes. “How could I have failed, …master? I did everything you asked. I've done only what you've asked for almost as long as I can remember.”

“That may be, but you far from completed your task,” Trigon's voice boomed in anger.

“That was not my fault,” the Reaper retorted defensively. “Raven was too strong. I cannot imagine the pain and anger she must have felt when I ripped the changeling's soul out of his body. Yet, she resisted, something not even you could have predicted, master.”

“You sound pleased that the outcome turned out the way it did,” Trigon said in disbelief.

“Maybe I am,” the Reaper yelled in anger unable to contain himself. “At least this gives me hope that one day I will be free of your clutches.”

“Insolence!” Trigon yelled causing the Reaper to fall backward. “You will never be free from me. Until you learn that, servant, I will continue to force your hand. Tell me. Would you like to hear her screams again?”

The Reaper's eyes widened as he stood to his feet. “No. Please. I'll do what you want. Just don't hurt her. Please, don't hurt her.”

“Your loyalty is as fragile as ever servant. Yet, I can sense your dedication to her faltering. You can too, can you not? With each kill, with each drop of blood, with each soul you extinguish in my name, your bloodlust grows. Soon, servant, you will be complete. Soon, your attachments to her will be severed, and you will serve me by choice. You will serve me for the thrill of another kill.”

“That will never happen,” the Reaper yelled. “I'm doing this for my sister, nothing more.”

“Granted, you began your servitude to me for the sole intent of saving your little sister's soul. That was three years ago, servant. Your priorities have changed. You have learned to enjoy the kill. Your sister dwells within your mind less and less with each passing day. Soon, you will beg me to let you hear her screams.”

The Reaper was silent for a moment. The very thought of him wishing for her to endure the torture Trigon gave her sickened even him. “Never,” he said softly. “No matter how far gone I get, no matter how much you corrupt my mind, I will never cease to care about her fate. She is all that drives me, and she is the only thing that ever will. So, just hurry up and give me my new orders so I can keep her safe for another day. What do you want me to do now that your plan failed, master.”

“My daughter is strong. She gets her strength from me, not from that weak human mother. Nothing you can do will turn her. That is why you are going to bring her to me. You will not even have to fight. I have the changeling, and that is why she will come. She will beg you to send her to me.”

“You do realize that you've asked me to allow the same fate that has befallen my sister to fall on not one but two other people today. I've already done it once. I won't do it again.”

“You will do it, or your sister will suffer. Send her to me, servant. That is my command. Hesitate, and I shall let your sister's screams linger in your mind for all eternity.”

“…As you command, master.”

llllllllllllllllllll

Slowly, the Reaper began to return to the conscious realm.

“Yo, Robin,” Cyborg's voice was like it was distant but getting closer to the Reaper fast. “I think he's coming to.”

“Glorious,” Starfire squealed. “I shall inform friend raven immediately.”

“That's a good idea, Star,” Robin stated. “With his connection to her, I'm sure that she's got some questions for him too.”

The Reaper opened his eyes in time to see Starfire shut the door on her way out. Immediately afterward, Cyborg's and Robin's face came into view, blocking everything behind them.

“Well, look who's up,” Cyborg said with a mischievous smirk.

“And just in time for the interrogation too,” Robin added.

“Interrogation?” The reaper asked. “I've already told you everything. Besides, what makes you think that I'll stay here long enough for any of your pitiful questions, mate?” The reaper's eyes began to glow red and he concentrated on the other side of the room. However, nothing happened. “You see, I… Wait!” The Reaper looked around the room to see that nothing had changed. “This isn't what is supposed to happen.” The Reaper tried to stand up only to find out that his hands and feet were shackled to a chair, and that those shackles had a mechanical blue glow to them. “You've got to be kidding me, mates.”

“Sorry,” Robin smirked. “Looks like you aren't going anywhere.”

“Okay,” the Reaper said calmly, but he was panicking on the inside. “So, you've found a way to repress my powers. How?”

Cyborg grinned proudly. “It wasn't that hard really. I just replayed my memories of the battle, specifically the part where you teleported in front of Robin to punch him in the jaw. All I had to do was run it through my systems a few times, and they eventually picked up on exactly what makes you teleport. From there, it was as easy as finding the exact frequency for your restraints to resonate so that they would -“

“Cyborg,” Robin interrupted, “should you really be telling him all of this?”

“He's not going anywhere, Rob. Besides, knowing how his restraints work doesn't tell him how to shut them down. Only I know that.” Cyborg turned back to the Reaper. “Basically, those restraints, as you already know, restrain you from not only moving but from using your powers as well. And that means that you can't go anywhere until we get what we need from you.”

“You took our friend,” Robin said coldly. “We want him back, now!”

The Reaper sighed. “I already told you, mate. I can't bring him back. I don't have that kind of power. No one has enough power for that.” The Reaper looked at the faces of the two male Titans. Neither of them looked like they were going to leave it at that. “Listen, mates -”

“No. You listen!” Cyborg yelled silencing the Reaper. “That guy you just practically killed, we may have had our differences, but he was my best friend. I refuse to believe that he is gone just like that. I will not accept it. Now, I know that there has to be more than you are telling us. You will tell us everything, now!”

The Reaper stared at the mechanical Titan in silence. What he saw scared him. He saw himself in Cyborg. “I know how you feel,” the Reaper whispered.

Cyborg felt insulted at the Reaper's comment. “How could you know how it feels to loose a friend, let alone a best friend. I've only known you for less than half a day and I can tell that you have no friends, so don't you dare try and level with me. You have no idea what we are all going through right now.”

“But, I do. I have to live with it ever day, mate.”

“Then why don't you enlighten us,” Cyborg said in a mocking tone, “because I would love to hear it.”

“I can't, mate,” the Reaper said softly. “I'm not allowed to.”

“You mentioned Raven's father during the battle,” Robin began. “Is he the one pulling your strings?”

“I've got no strings to hold me down, mate,” the Reaper mocked. “I'm a real boy.”

“Meaning?”

“What?” The Reaper asked in disbelief. “You've never seen that movie. You must have had one screwed up childhood.”

Robin's eye twitched. “Something like that. Now, answer the question.”

“Everything I do, I do out of my own free will.”

“Are you sure about that?” Robin asked eerily calm. “You gave me the impression that you were being forced.”

“Now, how do you figure that, mate?” The Reaper asked curious as to how Robin had made the connection.

“You mentioned loosing someone. You said that you weren't allowed to talk about them. You've avoided the issue of Raven's father. Let me tell you what I think, Reaper.”

“The Reaper, mate. The.” The Reaper said with a mocking voice, but on the inside, he feared where this was going.

“Let me tell you what I think of all of that, the Reaper. I think that Raven's father has that someone, and is using their well being as a means to control you. Tell me. Am I right?”

The Reaper remained silent, but averted his gaze from Robin.

“Am I right?” Robin repeated.

“Let me talk to Raven,” the Reaper said in a whisper. The Reaper needed him to stop. He needed to complete his mission. He couldn't wait any longer, for his sister's sake.

“Answer the question!” Robin yelled.

“Why do you care?” The Reaper asked trying to change the subject. “What good is it to you?”

“If that really is the case, then you're a victim here just like we are,” Cyborg stated. Although Cyborg had a hard time imagining someone who would kill so readily a victim, something told him that that was the case here. “We can help each other. We can get back who was taken from you, but you need to help us by cooperating.”

“You don't understand, mate!” The Reaper yelled disregarding any of his previous apprehensions. “You can't help me! No one can help me! If my sister could have been saved, I would have done it by now. Twice have I ventured into Trigon's realm, and twice I barely escaped with my life. My sickle did nothing to him. I didn't even make a scratch on him. All it took for him to nearly kill me was one hit. He's too powerful. I alone could kill all of you. If I couldn't stop him, what makes you think you stand a chance.”

Robin stared at the Reaper calmly. “You fought Raven's father in his realm, correct?”

“Yes,” the Reaper admitted. “I still bear most of the scars I received from him on my back. They still hurt like hell.”

Robin had heard exactly what he needed to hear. There was hope after all, and now that he was able to cling to that hope, he refused to let it go. After all, Beast Boy was not just a teammate to him, but one of the few people he called a friend. “So, there is a way back from where you sent Beast Boy after all, is there not? After all, you seemed to find a way free of that realm. I'd say that we're making some progress. Now, would we not be able to duplicate your method of escaping that realm, whatever it may have been?”

“Things were different then,” the Reaper whispered, not wanting to recall the visions of his sister hanging from a stone wall above a pool of magma. “Things have changed now.”

“How so?” Robin asked.

The Reaper looked away from the two Titans in front of him. “Let me talk to Raven.”

“Why do you need to talk to Raven so badly?” Robin asked keeping his interrogative tone. “Better yet, let's talk about Raven. What does Trigon want with her?”

“He wants what he's always wanted,” the Reaper answered.

“Could you possibly give us a straight answer for once?” Cyborg asked in annoyance.

“Fine. Trigon wants his daughter, not Raven's mother's daughter.”

“That is something that he will never get,” a voice stated from the doorway.

The reaper looked up to see Raven standing in the entryway to the room, carrying a limp Beast Boy. Hello, love.” The Reaper smiled. His mission would soon be complete, and he would not have to worry about his sister's well being any longer. “I'm glad you could join us.”

Raven glared at the Reaper with more hate than she had ever put into her eyes before. “I'm sure you are.” Raven carried Beast Boy over to the bedlike structure which Cyborg used while running his systems through his routine check, and carefully laid him across it. Without letting the changeling's body out of her sight, she pulled up a chair beside him and sat down. “So,” Raven asked Robin, using every ounce of her willpower to cover up her emotions, “what have you found out?”

Cyborg smiled. “What we hoped to and more.”

“There's a way to get him back, Raven,” Robin stated. “We just don't know it,” Robin turned to the Reaper, “yet. The reaper knows how. He knows from first hand experience. He was there, Raven, and he escaped. All we need is for him to tell us how.”

Raven turned to the Reaper with a stolid expression on her face. “Tell me.”

The Reaper glanced at Raven, then at Robin and Cyborg. `I have to complete my mission, but the only way to do that is to defy the first order Trigon ever gave me. Do not disclose any information of the events that took place in my realm. That was the order, and defying it would mean that my sister gets hurt. Yet, if I don't convince Raven to let me send her, my sister would get hurt. I know that you can hear me Trigon. Give me a little leeway here. I can't follow orders unless you do.”

“It doesn't matter, servant,” Trigon's voice boomed inside his head. “The time is at hand. Tell her everything that she wants to know. All that matters now is that you send my daughter to me. Do that and your sister will gain her freedom when I gain mine.”

The Reaper looked up at Raven. “Fine, love. I'll tell you, but it will be only you that I tell. After all, what I say will only matter to you and you alone.”

“Forget it,” Robin shouted. “Whatever you plan to say to Raven, you can say to all of us.”

“Robin, Cyborg,” Raven whispered,” just go.”

“What?” Cyborg asked in disbelief. “You can't be serious.”

“I am,” Raven stated. “The conversation that awaits me with the Reaper has the possibility that it may become quite personal. Trigon knows things about me. Therefore, he knows much about me, much more than I would ever allow anyone to know. I wish to do everything in my power to keep what I am not ready to reveal a secret until I am ready to reveal it. So, please, just leave us alone for a moment, both of you.”

Robin stared at Raven in silence, unmoving. However, Cyborg was not so stubborn. With an understanding nod to Raven, he stood up and began to walk towards the door. Robin looked at his teammate with a quizzical glance, yet knowing that he was outnumbered on the issue, he stood to his feet and followed Cyborg out the door, sliding it shut behind him.

“Okay,” Raven said calmly. “After all of that, you'd better have something that I want to hear. Tell me everything. How did you escape?”

“That, the reaper began without fear of any form of retribution from his master, “is a story that goes back three years into the past, back to when my powers first surfaced. I do not know exactly what gave me these powers or what triggered their emergence, but the fact is that they did, and they ruined my life.”

“With the banter you were spouting during the fight,” Raven spat in anger, “you could have fooled me.”

“I had good reason to act that way, love,” the Reaper continued. “I was forced, but I'll get to that. There is a lot that you need to know. When my powers surfaced, I thought them t be the coolest thing in the world. What could be better than having your very own superpower? Yet, I found out that it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. My eyes changed. They were pure white by the time I had gained a hold on my powers. However, when I used my teleporting abilities, my eyes glowed red. For that, I was shunned by society. They feared me because they didn't understand what was happening to me. Even my parents turned their back on me. They forced me out of our house… their house. I had no one to turn to. I was alone, or so I thought.”

“My little sister, she was only thirteen but she knew that what my parents were doing wasn't right, she ran away from home to find me. She did eventually, and nothing I could say would make her go back to the safety of her home. So, I gave in and took her along with me. In the end, I was glad that I did. I was never alone again. I took her to distant lands and even further planets using my powers. I even learned how to break past the dimensional boundaries. We couldn't get enough of the new places we were seeing. The universe was ours to behold, but as much fun as it was, it caught up to us.”

“The last dimension that I ever took her to happened to be the place your father was confined to. He captured us, and learned of my powers. He wanted to use me to set him free, and he was enraged to find out that I couldn't my powers do not work on non humans. Before you even ask, love, you are half human and that is close enough for me to get a lock on you. Anyway, when your father realized that even though I had teleportation abilities, you were still his ticket out of that realm, he did something sinister. He took my sister and tortured her in front of me until I swore allegiance to him.”

“Why didn't you just use your powers to escaper with your sister?” Raven asked.

“I couldn't, love. Your father used his powers to negate mine. You're questions have all revolved around how I got out up until now. The answer is I only got out because your father let me. Although I was out, my sister didn't get the same luxury. Trigon kept her chained above a pool of magma, and left her fate up to me. My sister was the only person that I had, and I would and did everything I could for her. I killed in your father's name countless times. Each one kept my sister safe until there was something else Trigon needed from me.”

“Eventually, he sent me here in search of you. Yet, his orders changed just moments before the battle. Originally, I was supposed to kill everyone in sight. He changed my target to him,” the Reaper pointed at Beast Boy. “Yet, he told me not to kill him, just to take his soul from him.”

“Let me guess,” Raven said with a sigh. “Even is you wanted to, Trigon wouldn't let you bring him back here. That is why it is impossible, wasn't it?”

“Yeah, love. I can't get him back now. Trigon's got too strong of a hold on him, and an even stronger one on my sister. I learned a long time ago that the only way to get them back is to defeat Trigon. I tried. I tried twice actually. Each time only caused my sister more pain, though. Trigon almost killed me both times, and punished her to punish me. Trigon can't be beaten, love. It is useless to try.”

Raven glanced at Beast Boy's limp body, and then back at the Reaper. “If Trigon was defeated, could you bring Beast Boy back?”

“I could if Trigon hadn't drained most of the life out of his soul. I know. I can feel it. It is the same thing that he is doing to my sister, soul and body. He would have to be put back into his body for me to get a lock on him, but it is useless to think of it at all. Trigon would stop you, but you don't care do you? You've already made up you mind, haven't you?”

Raven stood up and lifted Beast Boy's body from his laying position. Four black auras appeared on the Reaper's restraints, and ripped them completely off of him. Raven carried Beast Boy's body over to the reaper. “Send us.”

“You do realize that Trigon knows that you are coming, and that this is most likely a trap, right love?”

Raven nodded and hugged Beast Boy tightly.

“I don't like the idea of sending you to your death, but it is your choice.” The Reaper's eyes glowed red, and in an instant, Raven and what was left of Beast Boy was gone. Now that he was alone, however, a thought occurred to him. It was a very displeasing thought. “Something tells me that the other Titans aren't going to take this that well.”