Young Titans Part IV: Cold Dreams
Title: Young Titans Part IV: Cold Dreams
Author: dorksidefiker
Fandom: Amalgam (kind of)
Table/Prompt: Table 4 | 7. Feels like I’m frozen in a dream.
Character/Pairing: William Rook, Teddy Logan, Cassie Kord, Bart Shepard, Katie Granger,
Rating: PG
Word Count:
Summary: Part Four of my Young Titans series.
Authors Notes/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. Just for the record, Brother Zatara is an amalgamation of Brother Voodoo and Zack Zatara.
“Okay,” Teddy said, “where are we?” He looked around, but William was already gone. “Oh dammit.” The woods seemed to close around him, dark and ominous, like something out of a fairy tale. That did absolutely nothing to reassure Teddy; he was way too familiar with the original stories, where princes ended up impaled on thorns and got their eyes torn out by wicked witches.
The question was, was William the proverbial damsel in distress, or the wicked witch?
“William? Billy?” Teddy groaned, rubbing his hand over his face. “We don’t have time for this.” He shivered, growing a thick green pelt that did little to ward off the cold. A flock of crows suddenly burst from the tree tops, startling him. With a sigh, he started trudging in the direction the startled birds had come from, hoping to find… anything.
***
“We need to call the Justice League Avengers,” Cassie said. “They’ll know what to do.”
Bard was vibrating in place, staying at his prone twin’s side, his lips skinning back from his teeth. “Screw that!” he snapped, turning to face Cassie. “Do you have any idea what they’d do to him if they knew about this?”
“They’d help William and Ted. It’s been two days, and they haven’t woken up!”
“He’s right, Cass,” Katie said, checking that the drip feed they’d hooked William in to was still working. She already knew it was, but she hated not doing anything. Red Vision and Eli were the only ones who had been able to get through the portal to see Brother Zatara, and William had said that, if something went wrong, that the magician was one of the few people he actually trusted to help him. It had amazed Katie that he was willing to trust anyone. “If the doctor can’t help, then we’ll go to them,” she conceded.
***
Icicles as thick as William’s wrists hung off the trees, forming a cage of ice around him. Inside the cage, he was surrounded by statues of ice that he refused to actually look at. He was sure that he was inside his own mind, and he was just as sure that he didn’t want to see what was lurking there. Instead, he sat at the foot of the largest of the statues, wrapped in his cape, and tried to concentrate. He could feel Teddy wandering about, and was doing his best to craft a path that would keep him wandering in circles until he could find a way to push the shape-shifter out.
This was proving considerably more difficult than he’d expected.
“Billy?”
“Dammit.” William opened his eyes and found Teddy staring at him through the bars of ice. “Dammit dammit dammit. I told you to stop calling me that.”
“Why is there a giant statue of me?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Teddy jabbed a finger at the statue that William had been resolutely not looking at, but William still wasn’t going to look. “It’s a dreamscape, what you’re seeing and what I’m seeing aren’t the same things.”
“It looks like you’re in the middle of a bunch of ice statues,” Teddy said, leaning against the bars. They melted swiftly beneath his touch. “Dreamscape, huh?”
“Obnoxious, irritating, intrusive…”
“I like you too, you know.”
“Empath,” William snapped.
Teddy stopped short, almost withdrawing the hand he had been reaching towards William. “Uh…?”
“Just leave me alone,” William muttered, pulling his hood low. Teddy sat down next to him, very deliberately dropping an arm around his shoulders. William was too tired to pull away.
“So if you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” Teddy asked quietly. He felt so warm and welcoming in a way that William had never really had before.
“Because emotions are dangerous.”
“Especially if you bottle them up.”
Author: dorksidefiker
Fandom: Amalgam (kind of)
Table/Prompt: Table 4 | 7. Feels like I’m frozen in a dream.
Character/Pairing: William Rook, Teddy Logan, Cassie Kord, Bart Shepard, Katie Granger,
Rating: PG
Word Count:
Summary: Part Four of my Young Titans series.
Authors Notes/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. Just for the record, Brother Zatara is an amalgamation of Brother Voodoo and Zack Zatara.
“Okay,” Teddy said, “where are we?” He looked around, but William was already gone. “Oh dammit.” The woods seemed to close around him, dark and ominous, like something out of a fairy tale. That did absolutely nothing to reassure Teddy; he was way too familiar with the original stories, where princes ended up impaled on thorns and got their eyes torn out by wicked witches.
The question was, was William the proverbial damsel in distress, or the wicked witch?
“William? Billy?” Teddy groaned, rubbing his hand over his face. “We don’t have time for this.” He shivered, growing a thick green pelt that did little to ward off the cold. A flock of crows suddenly burst from the tree tops, startling him. With a sigh, he started trudging in the direction the startled birds had come from, hoping to find… anything.
***
“We need to call the Justice League Avengers,” Cassie said. “They’ll know what to do.”
Bard was vibrating in place, staying at his prone twin’s side, his lips skinning back from his teeth. “Screw that!” he snapped, turning to face Cassie. “Do you have any idea what they’d do to him if they knew about this?”
“They’d help William and Ted. It’s been two days, and they haven’t woken up!”
“He’s right, Cass,” Katie said, checking that the drip feed they’d hooked William in to was still working. She already knew it was, but she hated not doing anything. Red Vision and Eli were the only ones who had been able to get through the portal to see Brother Zatara, and William had said that, if something went wrong, that the magician was one of the few people he actually trusted to help him. It had amazed Katie that he was willing to trust anyone. “If the doctor can’t help, then we’ll go to them,” she conceded.
***
Icicles as thick as William’s wrists hung off the trees, forming a cage of ice around him. Inside the cage, he was surrounded by statues of ice that he refused to actually look at. He was sure that he was inside his own mind, and he was just as sure that he didn’t want to see what was lurking there. Instead, he sat at the foot of the largest of the statues, wrapped in his cape, and tried to concentrate. He could feel Teddy wandering about, and was doing his best to craft a path that would keep him wandering in circles until he could find a way to push the shape-shifter out.
This was proving considerably more difficult than he’d expected.
“Billy?”
“Dammit.” William opened his eyes and found Teddy staring at him through the bars of ice. “Dammit dammit dammit. I told you to stop calling me that.”
“Why is there a giant statue of me?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Teddy jabbed a finger at the statue that William had been resolutely not looking at, but William still wasn’t going to look. “It’s a dreamscape, what you’re seeing and what I’m seeing aren’t the same things.”
“It looks like you’re in the middle of a bunch of ice statues,” Teddy said, leaning against the bars. They melted swiftly beneath his touch. “Dreamscape, huh?”
“Obnoxious, irritating, intrusive…”
“I like you too, you know.”
“Empath,” William snapped.
Teddy stopped short, almost withdrawing the hand he had been reaching towards William. “Uh…?”
“Just leave me alone,” William muttered, pulling his hood low. Teddy sat down next to him, very deliberately dropping an arm around his shoulders. William was too tired to pull away.
“So if you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” Teddy asked quietly. He felt so warm and welcoming in a way that William had never really had before.
“Because emotions are dangerous.”
“Especially if you bottle them up.”