Young Titans part III: Whispers
Title: Young Titans part III: Whispers
Author/Artist: fullmetal_cute
Fandom: Amalgam (kind of)
Characters/Pairing: Bart Shepard, Cassie Kord, William Rook
Rating: PG
Table & Prompt number: Table 4 | 3. Don’t remind me I’m not crazy. Don’t rewind me and replay me.
Summary: In which several people are worried about young William.
Author's note: The third Young Titans story. Also, look! More lovely fanart!
Disclaimer: Y’know, this is kind of a weird area. The parent characters for this lot aren’t mine, but I’m the one putting them together like this… hrm.
“Must be nice to know you’re not the only one hearing voices,” Bart told Cassie as they both watched William’s closed door as if it might open up again (though they both knew that it was highly unlikely). Cassie turned her head slowly, eyes narrowed as she swept a few strands of blonde hair out of her face. Bart returned the look with one of pure innocence. “We got a new game in. Wanna play?”
“How come Stophelies never talks to you?” Cassie asked, wondering if, in fact, the demon lord didn’t often use his other son as a cats paw. It would go a long way towards explaining so much. The scarab whispered to her about how she could take the speedster out, but she ignored it.
Bart shrugged, clearly already growing bored with the topic. “I don’t go around reshaping reality because I’m having a bad day,” he said. “I’m not useful. I’m gonna see if Teddy wants to play.” He was gone before Cassie could ask any more questions. She looked at the spot where Bart had been, then at the closed door in front of her. The scarab advised her to kill William now, before he could end up like his mother; a madwoman controlled by a demon who’d caused the death of her own father at the hands of a man who’d been his friend, caused a what amounted to a world war between superheroes, and nearly let Stophelies remake the world in his image.
Cassie turned away from the door, the scarab still talking to her.
***
“Shut up shut up SHUT UP!” William pressed his hands to his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, as if that could block out the incessant chatter that had been following him since they’d fought that demon downtown. His skin was still trying to crawl away from the spot where it had touched him, when it had hailed him as the Prince in waiting. Then the whispering had started.
Half throwing himself across the room, he dove for the cabinet that held his spell supplies. He fumbled out a few white candles and a bag of sea salt, but his matches were missing. He swore quietly, moving things around. He knew there was a box of matches somewhere in there, but they remained resolutely hidden. He didn’t trust himself to light the candles with his power, or even to summon up a match. “Damn damn damn damn!”
He heard someone knocking on his door, and he ignored it. He had to find those matches and start a cleansing ritual to rid himself of the demon taint. The knocking continued. “Go away!” It only became more insistent. “ I said go away!”
The door dissolved in a shower of blue sparks, and Teddy stepped in. “Jesus, Billy-”
“You need to go,” William muttered, ignoring Teddy’s use of the disliked nickname. “I - I - damn it where are they?”
He felt Teddy’s hands close over his shoulders, and his breath tickled William’s ear. “Easy, just relax. What are you looking for?”
“Matches,” William said, shivers running down his spine as he tried to will himself to calm down.
“Right,” Teddy reached over him, staying entirely too close for William’s comfort, and after a bit of hunting, he found the box of missing matches. “Okay, now what? Draw a pentagram with the salt and light the candles at the corners? Come on, easy does it…”
William let Teddy lead him to the middle of the room, muttering soothing words all the while.
***
Katie rested her forearms on the back of Eli’s chair as they ran over the footage from the fight again. One minute, William was his usual, unflappable self. Then the four eyed thing had grabbed him and spouted off something in a language that had actually set the edge of William’s cape on fire and shattered every window on the block. Then William had freaked out.
And now William was still freaking out, and the Justice League Avengers had seen what had happened on the news, and they were getting worried. No one wanted another Arella Maximoff.
“He’s not going crazy,” Katie said. “He’s just a little freaked out. I would be too.”
“You wanna tell that to Dark Claw?” Eli asked. “I’d be more than happy to let you.”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
“Then we’ve got a team full of crazy.”
Author/Artist: fullmetal_cute
Fandom: Amalgam (kind of)
Characters/Pairing: Bart Shepard, Cassie Kord, William Rook
Rating: PG
Table & Prompt number: Table 4 | 3. Don’t remind me I’m not crazy. Don’t rewind me and replay me.
Summary: In which several people are worried about young William.
Author's note: The third Young Titans story. Also, look! More lovely fanart!
Disclaimer: Y’know, this is kind of a weird area. The parent characters for this lot aren’t mine, but I’m the one putting them together like this… hrm.
“Must be nice to know you’re not the only one hearing voices,” Bart told Cassie as they both watched William’s closed door as if it might open up again (though they both knew that it was highly unlikely). Cassie turned her head slowly, eyes narrowed as she swept a few strands of blonde hair out of her face. Bart returned the look with one of pure innocence. “We got a new game in. Wanna play?”
“How come Stophelies never talks to you?” Cassie asked, wondering if, in fact, the demon lord didn’t often use his other son as a cats paw. It would go a long way towards explaining so much. The scarab whispered to her about how she could take the speedster out, but she ignored it.
Bart shrugged, clearly already growing bored with the topic. “I don’t go around reshaping reality because I’m having a bad day,” he said. “I’m not useful. I’m gonna see if Teddy wants to play.” He was gone before Cassie could ask any more questions. She looked at the spot where Bart had been, then at the closed door in front of her. The scarab advised her to kill William now, before he could end up like his mother; a madwoman controlled by a demon who’d caused the death of her own father at the hands of a man who’d been his friend, caused a what amounted to a world war between superheroes, and nearly let Stophelies remake the world in his image.
Cassie turned away from the door, the scarab still talking to her.
***
“Shut up shut up SHUT UP!” William pressed his hands to his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, as if that could block out the incessant chatter that had been following him since they’d fought that demon downtown. His skin was still trying to crawl away from the spot where it had touched him, when it had hailed him as the Prince in waiting. Then the whispering had started.
Half throwing himself across the room, he dove for the cabinet that held his spell supplies. He fumbled out a few white candles and a bag of sea salt, but his matches were missing. He swore quietly, moving things around. He knew there was a box of matches somewhere in there, but they remained resolutely hidden. He didn’t trust himself to light the candles with his power, or even to summon up a match. “Damn damn damn damn!”
He heard someone knocking on his door, and he ignored it. He had to find those matches and start a cleansing ritual to rid himself of the demon taint. The knocking continued. “Go away!” It only became more insistent. “ I said go away!”
The door dissolved in a shower of blue sparks, and Teddy stepped in. “Jesus, Billy-”
“You need to go,” William muttered, ignoring Teddy’s use of the disliked nickname. “I - I - damn it where are they?”
He felt Teddy’s hands close over his shoulders, and his breath tickled William’s ear. “Easy, just relax. What are you looking for?”
“Matches,” William said, shivers running down his spine as he tried to will himself to calm down.
“Right,” Teddy reached over him, staying entirely too close for William’s comfort, and after a bit of hunting, he found the box of missing matches. “Okay, now what? Draw a pentagram with the salt and light the candles at the corners? Come on, easy does it…”
William let Teddy lead him to the middle of the room, muttering soothing words all the while.
***
Katie rested her forearms on the back of Eli’s chair as they ran over the footage from the fight again. One minute, William was his usual, unflappable self. Then the four eyed thing had grabbed him and spouted off something in a language that had actually set the edge of William’s cape on fire and shattered every window on the block. Then William had freaked out.
And now William was still freaking out, and the Justice League Avengers had seen what had happened on the news, and they were getting worried. No one wanted another Arella Maximoff.
“He’s not going crazy,” Katie said. “He’s just a little freaked out. I would be too.”
“You wanna tell that to Dark Claw?” Eli asked. “I’d be more than happy to let you.”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
“Then we’ve got a team full of crazy.”