Young Writers Society

The boy didn't answer the question. Instead, he whimpered ane the blade quivered in his hands as he said, "You shouldn't be here! Get out!"

He was just a scared kid. Sure, he was older than Les, but he clearly didn't know how to use the blade he was wielding, and he was obviously afraid. Les wanted to say this to the man who'd brought him here, but he looked too determined to put down his weapon just because Les said so.



The woman looked him up and down, considering him again. There was something in those blue eyes of hers, something that made them look like broken glass. Dangerous capable of drawing blood.

"Who are you?" she asked abruptly. Her body language didn't suggest she planned on moving anytime soon or letting him leave without answering her every question.

"You're the one who shouldn't be here," Jason said. He didn't know that Les saw what he saw, but he could tell the teenager was scared. He didn't know of what. All he knew was that Bruce Wayne had an extra two inches that Jason Todd didn't. That the Red Hood mask would have been a good concealer of his emotions, but he had to make do with a thin-lipped line and hard, cold eyes instead. That the gun he was holding in his hand was the only way he was going to get answers, because if he wanted to get this teenager to talk, he had to make him more terrified of the two before him than whoever had coerced him into coming here in the front place.

"Who are you?" he repeated. He took a step forward. "It's a simple question."


"Why does it matter?" Runi asked. She was terrified. She had seen that look in the woman's eyes before - in Nissam's eyes, in Cornyx's eyes, and even in Megara's. If she looked into a mirror in this very moment, would she find that same danger lurking underneath the surface of her own? Runi wanted to go running down the hallway and pretend this conversation never happened, but she was painfully aware of how little she was used to Cornyx's body. And she was painfully aware of how she was supposed to act right now - especially when the woman was challenging her with that look.

"It's Darian," she relented. "Darian Blackthorne. What's yours?"

"I should be here!" the boy insisted, "You need to get out! Or-or bad things will happen! Out out out!"

Les jumped back a step at the boy's insistence. He wasn't talking like someone his age at all. Was he some kind of drifter who ended up here by mistake? One of those people who never mentally grew up? Les couldn't think of a lot of reasons why he would talk so childishly, but it was becoming difficult to think of him as the age he appeared.



"Darian Blackthorne." The woman appeared to be tasting the name, testing it for familiar flavors. She didn't offer up her own name, nor did she even hint that she'd heard the question at all. Instead, she walked smoothly forward, toward the man so she was just at the edge of his personal space. Just barely at a comfortable distance.

"I didn't ask for your name," she said, her voice even, calculating, "I asked who you are."

"You're not supposed to be here," Jason calmly said. He noted the strange way that the teenager was talking - it reminded him of someone else he knew, but he didn't let himself linger on that similarity for too long. Eddie was gone, and there was no way that this teenager could be him. "And I'm not going to leave. I have more of a right to be here than you do right now. Who are you, and why are you here?"


Runi faltered.

How was she supposed to answer that? She had already given the answers that the woman was looking for. She wasn't doubting the fake name, and she had said she was Megara's friend. What more did she want?

"I think that technically means the same thing?" Runi hesitantly replied. The persona she had accidentally created started to fail. "My name is who I am. I told you I'm-I was her friend. The only thing left is my job, and I doubt that's what you're looking for. If it is, I'm a barista."

The boy looked like he was on the verge of tears, and when he spoke, he sounded like it too. "Y-you don't belong here! No one is supposed to come in but M-my friend. Get out! Get out of she'll...she'll make you dead!"



The woman arched an eyebrow, thought about something. "Who are you to be wandering the halls of Ringly Manor uninvited," she clarified after a moment. The look of broken glass had frozen over in her eyes. The danger wasn't gone, just changed.

The dangerous look in her eyes no longer promised blood, it promised pain. Cold, calculated pain. A punishment for lies.

The words barely registered - Jason's gaze had traveled to a stuffed animal a few feet away from him. His voice and his breath caught in his throat as he saw it. And even though he knew it was silly, and knew he had to protect Les so he didn't lose another person, he couldn't help but leave his spot in the doorway to scoop the giraffe plush off of the group.

It was the toy Eddie had shown him the first time they had met. It had the name he had been going by, then - Peter. He had never figured out if it was already named that or if Eddie had named the toy after him, but...

His eyes welled up with tears.


Runi knew that look, too. It was the kind of look that Nissam regularly got in her eyes after she was corrupted by that artifact - the woman wanted to punish her for whatever mistake she had just made. But Runi still didn't know what kind of answer she was looking for. Darian Blackthorne was admittedly an alias, but it was just because she didn't look like a Darunia Vain anymore.

"Someone who wants to know the truth," she said. Her voice was calm, but it was starting to break at the very end - Runi wasn't sure how long she could stop herself from crying right in front of this woman. "I'm someone who wants to know what happened to Megara because I cared about her in a way that you'll never understand, and because I'm missing her in a way that you'll never understand. I know what her life was like. I know she would have never died from mixed up medications."

She took a deep, shaky breath.

"I don't know who you are," she said, her voice finally cracking. "At this point, I don't really care. I just want to know what happened to Megara. And if that means breaking into this manor and going against you? I'll do it. I made a deal with the technical devil to get here. I-I forced myself to go to where she lived so I could figure out what happened to her, even though it hurt. I snuck in here, flirted with a maid even though I don't even know how to flirt, and now I'm standing up to you."

She hadn't entirely realized it, but her vision had become blurry with tears.

"I...I just wanted to see her again," Runi whispered. "I spent weeks trying to figure out how to. Just to end up in front of her grave. I-I could keep trying to play whatever game you're playing, but I'm just so done. I'm not scared of you. You're the third scariest person I know. Maybe the fourth."

The boy's eyes went wide and he seemed to forget the knife in his hands as he rushed over to snatch the toy out of the man's hands.

"No!" he shouted, "That's mine! Give him back! Give Peter back!"

xXx

The woman stared at her. The stony expression she wore revealed itself as a mask as it cracked slightly. She shifted. There was a faint clinking sound down the hall as some maid or other cleaned something made of glass. A bird began a song just outside a window nearby.

"...Runi?" the woman asked, her voice barely a whisper.

The gun went clattering to the floor.

"Eddie?" Jason whispered, his voice hesitant but hopeful. He took a step forward and reached out a hand to touch the teenager in front of him. He didn't know how it was possible, but he couldn't ignore the obvious.

Eddie was alive.

Tears went cascading down his cheeks as the realization set in. He didn't have the focus or the strength to tell Les what he just realized.

"You're alive," Jason whispered. "I-I don't know how or why you look so...so old, but you're alive."


The woman knew her name.

The woman, who Runi had been telling herself all along looked like Megara but was just a little bit off, knew her name.

For the first moment after her name was muttered, all Runi did was stare. She couldn't bring herself to move, and couldn't bring herself to say anything. But then realization finally dawned on her, and she pulled the woman in front of her into a hug.

"You're alright," she sobbed. "I-I thought I lost you!"

The boy became overwhelmed, and he started crying. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, in his place there stood a little boy, trying in vain to choke back his tears as he clutched the stuffed giraffe to his chest.

"Me-Meg-rah-rah will make you leave!" he stuttered through his tears, still trying to get them to go.

xXx

Megara didn't hug her back. She just stood there, stunned, for a moment, then pushed her away.

"Wait," she said, shaking her head, " You're not...you can't be...Runi's..." she gestured vaguely at the unfamiliar man before her.

Jason dropped down to his knees.

He had intended to comfort Eddie, but then realization set in. Eddie was threatening him with the promise of Megara - that meant she was alive, too! The tears fell even harder as he reached out and pulled Eddie into an embrace. He knew Eddie had no way of recognizing him, but he just had to hold him now.

"She won't," he managed to get out. "Eddie, it's me. Jay-Jay. I know I looked different, but it's me. I'm sorry for scaring you - I didn't know it was you. I just wanted to protect your home while you were gone."


Runi glanced down at herself, sniffling and frantically trying to wipe away her tears with her sleeve. There was some snot mixed in, too, but Runi didn't let herself think of that.

"I, uh, wasn't supposed to look like this," Runi admitted. She sniffled again. "We were using appearance changing potions, and then we both thought of how other people would react to the whole you being..."

She faltered.

"You know," she awkwardly finished. "And I thought of my friend Cornyx, so here I am! Or, um, here he is..."

Eddie struggled and managed to wiggle out of Jason's grip, "No!" he exclaimed, "No! Jay-Jay left! He left. He's home now. You're not him!"

Les watched this in complete and utter confusion. Ben, Jay-Jay, whatever, apparently knew this mer kid. This mer kid who was really, really good with illusion magic or had mastered the lost art of time manipulation. Either way, it was Impossible, with a capital 'I'.



Megara shook her head, processing. Suddenly, she seemed to realize something.

"Who the hell is 'we'?" she asked, only slightly ticked off. She wanted to be excited to see Runi, but it was hard to set aside the fact that Runi should have even been there. She'd gone into Megara's old home and, right now, they had to get out of it.

Not giving Runi time to respond, Megara grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into one of the guest rooms. She shoved Runi down onto the bed and started pacing back and forth across the room.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." she shook her head, "Why are you here? I'm dead, I died, why...why are you here," she gestured around, indicating the manor, "There's no reason to worry about it. I mean, it's kinda obvious who killed me and why. You're not going to get one of my old lovers to tell you what she doesn't know. You'd not going to get anyone to tell you, for that matter. Why...just, why, Runi? You could have gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking?"

She was rambling, and she knew she was rambling, but she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

She looked back at Runi. Suddenly her mind was blank and all she wanted to do was kiss her.

"I came back," Jason insisted. He barely noticed Les while he spoke - he was too preoccupied with trying to convince Eddie that he really was himself. "I drank a funny potion that made me look like this. I'd turn back to normal to prove it to you, but I don't know how."

He thought for a moment.

What was something only he knew that no one else did?

"When we first met, I gave you something to eat after rescuing you," Jason said. "It was a little stick with chocolate on it. You didn't want to eat it until I did, and then you wanted more of it because you loved the taste."


Runi didn't try to get up after Megara shoved her down onto the bed. She didn't know what she had been expecting as a response to what Jason and her had been doing, but this wasn't it. Her gaze lingered on her lap. She wasn't scared of Megara, but she couldn't bring herself to look at her face.

She took a deep breath.

"When I got home after the cabin, the first thing I did was try to find a way to get back to you," she admitted. "It wasn't easy. I spent weeks researching how to get between worlds and realities, and I couldn't come up with anything. I finally was smart enough to ask a friend for help - he was the one who got me here."

She hesitated before looking up at her.

"I ended up at your grave," Runi said. "I had spent more than a month trying to get to you, and what I found when I finally got there was that you were gone. That...That's where I met the other part of the 'we'. Your friend was there, too - Jason. We started talking and realized something must have happened for you to die so young and we...we..."

Her gaze dropped back down.

"I don't know what we were going to do," she admitted. "I know I wanted revenge, and Jason wanted justice. But I don't know if either of us could have pulled that off."

She looked back up at Megara.

"So here I am," she said, gesturing down at herself. "It was Jason's idea for the disguises, by the way. The options were mine, but he was the one who thought he might be recognized."

Eddie sniffled, "You're really Jay-Jay?" He clutched the stuffed animal closer, as though it would protect him if Ben was lying.

And he was lying. Les knew he was. Either he was lying now or he'd been lying before. Was he name really Jay-Jay, or was it Ben? Les didn't ask for an answer now. He was more concerned about the kid calming down, and if the man had to lie to him to make that happen, Les guessed he was okay with it for the moment. He just wanted answers when all of this was done.



Megara stared at her a moment, then her shoulders slumped and she sat down on the bed next to Runi.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I just...I didn't expect anyone to try to find me. I was kind of counting on it, you know? Let my name fade, make a new one. If I don't have a reputation no one knows what to expect from me. It's better that way. Safer, for me and Eddie."

There was a pause as she considered something.

"Where's Jason?"

"I'm really Jay-Jay," he promised. He gave Eddie a warm, reassuring grin - Ben was good at doing those, and Jason didn't have any trouble doing one with his face.

He scanned the room for a final bit of proof, his gaze eventually landing on the stuffed animal Eddie was holding close to him.

"You showed me Peter when we first met," he said, pointing at the giraffe. "I remember because I had said my name was Peter when we first, and I thought it was cool that we had the same name."


Runi looked over at her. She could understand that; starting over where she lived now had been a well-needed breath of fresh air after Grimmore.

"He's at your base, with your long lost brother-"

Runi paused.

She stared.

And then understanding dawned on her as she considered something of her own - something that implied that their decisions from earlier that day might have a major impact on Megara's life.

"...Where's Eddie?" she asked.

She already knew the answer.

Eddie giggled, "Peter got your fake name!" he chirped. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he looked at Les, "Why does your friend look like Meggie?" he asked whatever-his-name-really-was.

Les cleared his throat, "I, uh, I'm her brother. I think." He wasn't so sure anymore.

Eddie grinned, "Then you're a friend! You have to see Meggie! Her leg looks cool now!"

xXx

Megara shot to her feet with a few very colorful words and dragged Runi after her out the door.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?!" she asked, not actually mad at Runi. There was no way she could have known. "Eddie's gonna freak and..." she cringed, "That's not going to go well. Follow me, I know a shortcut. We have to get there before a misunderstanding gets someone hurt."

There was a pause.

"Did you say long-lost-brother?"