009

— running from destiny —

IF SHE HADN'T BEEN TORTURED, LEARNT HER MOTHER WAS DEAD, AND ALMOST DIED IN THIS BUILDING HAZEL'S MIGHTVE CALLED DICK AN IDIOT. They stood outside of the RV, crowded together in the parking lot starting at the large supermarket, dozens of people moving through the doors. "Hello ladies and gentleman. Welcome back to the asylum," Gar hummed in amusement, his arms crossing over his chest.

Dick's eyebrows furrowed, his gaze bouncing between his phone and the large white building, the sign Super Super Mart displayed in large red letters. "Strange. This store never came up on my GPS," Dick said softly, pocketing his phone. "It's just blank. A black hole."

"It's gone," Kory hummed.

"They made it a Super Super Mart," Gar commented.

"You think they make Super Super tools?" Hazel teased, leaning closer to Gar.

In a flash Hazel's mind emptied, a thousand whispers filling her mind, all echoes of the same sentence. Only when Hazel turned, her eyes sparked red and the whispers became clear, "Sunarr. . . An entrance is beyond the trucks."

Hazel looked past the supermarket's trucks, toward the loading dock and the building attached to it all. Rachel noticed Hazel's eyes shift and followed her gaze, looking over the trucks. "Did you see something?" Rachel asked.

Hazel looked at Rachel and shrugged, "Maybe." Hazel stepped away, towards the large trucks. She traced her hands along the metal containers on the trucks, her nails scratching the metal just enough to make an uncomfortable sound. Rachel glanced back at the others before they followed Hazel, Terran jogging to Hazel's side.

Terran stared ahead at the door hidden beneath the layers of paint, and she probably wouldn't have noticed it all if Hazel hadn't burned away the thick layers of blue paint. "How the hell—?"

"Call it hunch," Hazel said, interrupting her sister. Hazel looked over her shoulder at the others standing by the end of the trucks. "Found a secret door."

Dick raced to Hazel, Terran stepping aside to make room for him. He ran his fingers over the layers of paint Hazel had peeled back. Dick looked up at the others who had moved closer but it was Jinx that spoke up first, "Why does a supermarket need a secret door?"

"The hell is that?" Kory asked.

"Just your standard portal to hell," Gar said with a shrug.

"Hazel," Dick ordered with a curt nod.

Hazel stepped closer to the door, tracing the sides until she hit what she guessed to be the handle. She burnt through it quickly with her light before spreading vines across it to dig into the metal door. She tugged it open, the light cascading   down the darkened staircase on the other side. Hazell stepped down first, the air still and heavy. Hazel willed the light to spread through the entire building, brightening the rooms. "Anyone waiting up top?" Hazel asked, looking up at the others.

"All right. Come on," Rachel ordered. "Let's go. Sebastian, you're with me." Rachel and Sebastion walked down first, the others following down to the lowest level. Once they all had passed her Hazel closed the door with a thud, sealing it shut with vines ensuring no one could follow them.

It didn't matter that years had passed, it didn't matter that this place wasn't the same, it didn't matter. Hazel's eyes darted over the rusting blue walls, every single memory playing clear in her mind as if it were all happening again, all at once. Her eyes shifted back to the others, all focused ahead of them at the twisting tunnels, the area so new to them. Before she knew it, she slipped away silently, tracing her steps back down the farthest hall.

Dick's eyes traced the blue ways, "Anybody remember this area?" Dick asked, looking at Gar, Kory and Rachel.

"No. Doesn't look familiar at all," Gar confirmed, his eyes scanning the walls.

"The fire never made it down here," Kory realised. "Like it was sealed off."

Rachel shot a glance at Sebastian, her jaw clenching in thought. "What about you Haze?" Rachel asked looking back. Her stomach dropped, "Uh guys, where's Hazel?"

The others looked around, Gar rushing out, his eyes darting between the two far halls. "Hazel?" Terran called.

"Let's split up," Dick ordered, looking at Conner, Gar, Jinx, Tim and Cole. "You guys go left. We'll go right."

They split off, Dick leading the way to the right. Gar tilted his head, his eyes lighting up, searching for Hazel's heartbeat, instead his senses were overwhelmed. The smell of Hazel's blood, her tears, everything she had felt had haunted this place. It astounded him he didn't notice it the moment he walked in, but now he felt it, he felt it. He swallowed and looked down the farthest.

Conner went to set off the front hall, but Gar turned, almost jogging to the left hall. "Did you see her?" Jinx asked, rushing to catch up with him.

"I can hear her heartbeat," Gar said softly, his voice unusually quiet.

Gar led the others down the hall passing broken cell doors, glass cracking under their feet. They couldn't help but stare at the chains rustling against the walls in the wind. Jinx instinctively stepped closer to the others, her arms squeezing her shoulders. Gar slowed for a moment, his hand grazing an old blood stain on the wall. He was sure the others noticed it, the deep crimson red, bone dry but continued to trail down the hall, seemingly never ending. "She's close," Gar whispered.

Conner nodded and used his own hearing, the racing heartbeat loud in his ears. "Hazel?" Conner called, stepping through the turn. Hazel stood over a trio of bodies, or what was left of them. Their skin had almost withered completely, bones old and yellow, even the old doctor's coat had started to disintegrate. And despite that the old thorns and flowers had nearly withered entirely; a single pink flower had grown from the doctor's skull.

Cole called her name this time and her eyes snapped up, and he didn't miss when she tried to hide whatever she had clutched so tightly in her hand. Hazel tried her hardest to steady her breath as she looked at everyone. "I didn't know this was so far down, but I remember it. I remember being down here," Hazel tried to explain, but her voice was so shaky Tim almost couldn't make out her words.

Gar stepped closer slowly trying to reach for her hands, but she stepped back slightly, her eyes darting away again.

"I don't understand, you said you didn't know this place," Tim said in confusion.

"Dick, Kory, Rachel and me were upstairs, where the Super Super bullshit is," Gar corrected, his eyes watching Hazel's face as she tried to focus on anything else.

"I saw her, the Witch, when she was down here," Hazel said slowly, her stomach twisting in knots. "She asked me to let her out. I—" Hazel cleared her throat and looked up at Jinx and Conner. "There's a second room further down the hall and an office to the left of that."

"We'll take the office," Cole said. He pet Tim's back and they cautiously stepped over the bodies and past Hazel.

"We'll check the hall," Conner nodded. He motioned Jinx on, leaving Hazel and Gar in the hall.

Gar finally took Hazel's hand, taking the broken blue collar from her hand. His fingers traced over it, the same crimson standing the metal. He tossed it aside and grabbed her hand quickly again. "Gar, I let her out. This is all my fault— Jesus Christ." Gar pulled her into a tight hug, cutting her off before her thoughts could go any further. Hazel buried her head into the crook of his neck, his arms wrapping her tightly, trying to absorb everything she was feeling.

Hazel pushed him back slightly, stepping away enough to shake her arms out, muttering every apology she could create but Gar quickly shook his head. "Hey, look at me," Gar ordered in a soft voice. As Gar leaned in towards Hazel, his hand reached out and caressed her cheek. As he touched her, she lifted her gaze to meet his, completely focused on him. His thumb traced the contours of her face, leaving a trail of warmth in its wake. Hazel felt her worries melt away as she gazed up at him, the soft touch making her feel safe.

"None of this is your fault, you had no idea who that was." Hazel's breath was still quick and short, and Gar paused for a moment, leaning closer to rest his forehead on hers, his nose just brushing hers. "Just breathe for me Sunshine. It's just you and me."

❁

THE PASSING MINUTES HAD SEEMINGLY STRETCHED INTO HOURS, AND THEN IN A SECOND IT WAS LIKE NO TIME HAD PASSED AT ALL. Terran sighed in relief, the tension lifting from her shoulders in an instance. She turned back down the hall, catching up to Rachel and the others that had waited for her. "The others found Hazel," Terran relayed, turning her phone off and sliding it into her pocket. Kory let out a long breath and Dick's shoulders loosened.

"She okay?" Rachel asked.

Terran shrugged softly but she gave a soft smile, "Cole says she's spooked but okay. . . for the most part." Rachel took a deep breath trying to loosen her shoulders but when it didn't work, she just nodded and then followed Dick and Kory to a large steel door that had been torn from its hinges. Wilted vines consumed the door, but they wore focussed of the pile of chains and muzzle dumped in the centre.

"Cheery little suite," Kory commented, spinning around. Rachel looked at the pile of chains but never moved close enough to touch it.

Sebastion's eyes wandered the room, shaking his head softly. "This was her room. The woman from the police station," Sebastion confirmed, and the others turned towards him.

"How do you know that?" Kory questioned.

Sebastion held up an old picture of two women, slightly faded from age but the picture was clear as day. The witch, maybe ten years younger, had her arm wrapped around the shoulder of another woman, their smiles wide. "It was on the floor," Sebastion began to explain. "See this is her, when she was young. But. . ."

"But what?" Rachel asked softly, taking a step closer.

Sebastion bit his lip in frustration as he looked at the picture again. "I don't know her. But I do know her." Sebastion pointed to the second woman. "Her name is Gina. She's my neighbour from across the hall."

"They've been monitoring you, the Organization," Dick realised.

Sebastion took a shaky breath, "What do they want from me?"

"They could be looking for something. A blood type or genetic marker." Dick's words did nothing to ease Sebastian's nerves, instead they just rose into his throat, and he had to take a breath, but it came out in a terrible shudder.

Kory stepped away and picked something up from the floor. "Guys, check this out," Kory called. Terran stepped away from Rachel, moving over to Kory. She held a blue and purple story book, the colours also faded but not that much.

"A storybook, cool," Terran mused. "The chick was crazy."

"It's like some creepy fairy tale," Kory corrected, flipping through the pages.

Rachel stepped closer to Terran, looking at the book. Kory flipped the page to a drawing of two white figures, one smaller holding some sort of horn and from the sky floated a kind of demon. "Well, that could be me," Rachel offered, pointing to a small, illustrated child holding a golden horn. "Trigon, the child."

Kory flipped the page, her eyes narrowing at the illustration of a woman, golden tears streaming down her face, but the page had been torn and scratched, completely disfiguring whatever the woman actually looked like. She flicked the page over, her hands faltering. "Does this look familiar at all?" Kory turned to Dick and showed him the book. Six knights had been slain by a massive demon, but they had an odd resemblance to the Titans; one had bright green hair, another pink, one even had a blue bird symbol on his armour. "This could be all of us."

Dick sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Or it could just be a fairy tale."

"And the song playing on the jukebox?" Kory questioned.

"Just a song." Dick walked around to the cuffs and Terran took the book from Kory.

"Song?" Terran questioned her eyebrows furrowing as she flipped through the pages.

"Haros Bartossi," Kory said, toying with the gems on her necklace.

Terran hummed, consumed with the books "Sounds familiar."

Dick turned the chains in his hands, his eyes scanning the walls and then back to the broken door. "Looks like someone busted her out of here." Dick dropped the cuffs and walked to the entrance door. His fingers grazed the edge, "The fire probably broke down all the security. We tried to get rid of them, but—"

"We let her out," Kory cut in.

"Uh, whether you think this storybook is real or not," Terran muttered, looking at the pages. Her stomach sank as her fingers traced the picture, "This is Hazel." Terran flipped the book around to be portrait and showed the others. The pages were covered in rays of light that resembled Hazel's as a girl with thick curly hair floated over the lifeless demon's body with some sort of crown on her head. "And. . ." Terran turned the book around, revealing a new image. It depicted Hazel with the lifeless bodies of the knights, but she cradled the one with green hair close to her.

Kory took the book from Terran, tracing the pages. Even the armour the girl wore was similar to Hazel's, greens and gold, with symbols of Vema. Kory took a breath, sparring another glance at Rachel and Terran before turning back to Dick. "Because she's immortal. . ." Kory trailed off.

"She would watch us die and then she would come back to life," Rachel muttered. Rachel's eyes shot up to Dick, and even though he wasn't one for fairy tales the entire thought made him shudder. He shared the look with Terran.

Terran's phone buzzed, and she stepped back slightly. She pulled her phone out and answered Hazel's call. "Hey, you find something?" Terran asked, trying to hide the shake in her voice.

"A bunch," Cole said, his voice echoing through the phone.

"Go straight down the left hall," Hazel ordered, "See you in a bit." Terran mumbled a goodbye hung up.

Hazel and Cole glanced at each other both sharing the same confused and concerned look. "She sounded off, didn't she?" Hazel asked and Cole nodded slowly.

"To be fair I think everyone's a little off," Cole mumbled. Hazel hummed softly in response, turning back down the hall. Cole's steps slowed and Hazel turned to face him, watching him nervously toy with his rings and bracelets. "Can I understand?" Cole asked, holding his hand out. Hazel looked between Cole's red eyes and his hand, her body freezing in place. "I won't show you anything, or make you feel anything, I just wanna understand Haze."

Hazel took a hefty breath before reluctantly taking Cole's hand, waiting in silence as he searched through her mind. In a flash he had released her hand but had pulled her into a tight hug, squeezing her close as he possibly could. Hazel dropped her head against his shoulder, her arms moving to squeeze. Cole began to mutter nonsense into her hair, his words so low she couldn't hear him.

She quickly stepped back, running her hands through her hair to distract herself. Cole hung his head, his eyes darting back down the hall. "We should head back," Cole said softly, looking back up at her. He nodded her on, and they set off, rushing back to Gar, Tim, Conner and Jinx.

❁

IT FELT LIKE THE WALLS WERE CLOSING IN AND THE STACKS OF EQUIPMENT, BOXES AND TAPES DID NOTHING TO EASE THE FEELING. The Titans crowded around the old office space, Jinx making more than enough complaints about the spider web and small insects. Tim sat across from Rachel, toying with the tape player to get it to play the parts he wanted. Rachel chewed on her fingernail, watching the tape player whizz. They listen to a pair of women talk, the first sounding like the witch they had faced. "Hey, are you and Darlene-"

"Just friends," A second woman interpreted the first.

"No."

"Hey, be careful. He'll hear you."

"Oh, he's heard us." Both women laughed.

"This room could use some blue, don't you think? A dump truck or two?"

"Mmm."

"Some cowboy spurs and a little vest?"

"I think he's got his heart set on a girl."

Tim leant forward and paused the tape. He looked up at Rachel who couldn't tear her wide eyes from the tape player. "She was like Angela, my mother," Rachel murmured. She looked up at Gar and Hazel who stood further away from the table. They had already listened to the tapes, but they didn't say anything, letting her hear it all for herself.

"Looks like you have a sister," Dick stated.

"Wait, there's a twist," Cole said softly, leaning forward and twisting the nub to speed the tape along.

He pressed play and the terrible wails of the witch screeched from the tape player. Terran visibly winced but she swallowed the lump in her throat and listened closer. The witch panted and screamed, her voice cracking and breaking before being quickly followed by the soft cries of a baby. She had a moment to breathe, her screams soothing into a soft breath when her panicked voice cut through it all. "Wait, wait—!"

"It's a boy," A man said sternly, his voice booming over the cries of the baby. "Sorry, May."

"Give me my baby!"

"The prophecy is well known. The chosen one must be a girl."

"The prophecy is wrong. Give him back! I will hurt you!"

"Muzzle her."

Just before they could hear the struggle, Cole stopped the tape and looked up at Rachel. She stared lifelessly at the tape player and Terran took her hand, lacing their fingers together. She was barely able to lift her head but she gripped Terran's hand in hers tightly. "You were the one they were waiting for," Dick pieced together. "The one in the prophecy."

"All those years, just waiting for me and my mom," Rachel said in a soft voice.

"You should listen to the rest," Tim said, starting the player again in a new spot.

A man spoke this time, but different from the man in the previous tape, "Remove the muzzle. Stand back."

"You don't need to worry. I have nothing but love in my heart. Love for my son. He's my strength."

"Your love just wasn't enough to make the prophet."

"My son is the prophet. But he needs time to grow."

"Renounce this blasphemy. And you can go back and live with the others."

"He will ascend under the blood moon to join his father. His power will have no equal. Together, they will take the world."

"As you wish."

There was a moment of silence before she began to mutter, "Sebastian. . . Sebastian. . . Sebastian. Sebastian."

Tim stopped the player and cautiously looked up at Sebastian. His eyes were blown open wide, hands shaking at his sides as he stared at the machine. "That's my name," He finally said, "Why did she say my name?" Sebastion rambled, his voice shaky.

Rachel spun in her seat. "Do you have the mark?" Rachel asked quickly.

"What?"

"Like this." Rachel pulled back the jumper off her shoulder showing the dark raven marking on her shoulder. Rachel stood and helped Sebastion manoeuvre the jumper away from his shoulder, revealing the exact same mark.

"He's the one from the children's book who makes the hole in the sky," Kory said, motioning to the children's book on the table. Haze's eyes snapped toward the book, Terran insisting she show it to them all before they listened to the tapes. "It's part of their prophecy."

Sebastian shook his head, shuffling ever so slightly away from the others. "No, no, no, no. I don't— I don't know anything about any holes or— or any prophecy," Sebastion blabbed. "I'm not anyone."

"But they want you to be," Rachel said softly.

Sebastian took a breath but his hands still shook, "They want me to be what?" Rachel stayed silent and Sebastion took an uneasy breath. "A killer?"

Rachel's eyes widened and she tried to console him, "But you don't have to be."

"No, no, no. We- We have to stop this. You all have to stop this," Sebastian went on, his voice rising with each word. "You saw the book. You all die."

"Not everyone," Conner muttered and Hazel glanced up before turning away.

"He's right. We got to stop it," Jinx said, nodding.

"Jinx," Dick warned.

Jinx shrugged softly, ignoring Dick's warning, "We've got to kill him." Rachel looked between Jinx and Terran, and Terran stood, pushing the newfound siblings behind her. Jinx chuckled and raised her hands in defence. "Okay. I know I'm late to the end of the world party, but I'm here now."

"Nobody's killing anybody," Dick said sternly.

"Dick. If this guy turns into a fucking pumpkin—"

"You need to back off, alright?" Terran hissed.

"Okay, everyone relax, please," Dick said sternly, taking a small step forward.

"It's waning," Gar said suddenly, walking forward.

The room went silent in a second and Dick looked at Gar, his eyebrows furrowed. "What is?"

Hazel looked up at Gar, her eyes widening in realisation, "The moon."

"I've been tracking the lunar cycles," Gar announced. "The moon is going into sidereal rotation which means. . . the blood moon will expire in about eight hours."

"So we only have to keep him with us for a night," Kory said with a nod. "Then it all goes away. New ending, new day."

Dick nodded in agreement, "Let's take these tapes with us," Dick ordered but Tim cleared his throat, his hand grabbing the machine before Dick could take the tape out. His eyebrows shot up as he stared at Tim, "There's more?"

"Not really for Rachel or Sebastian," Tim said, his fingers tapping against the table. He took a heavy breath and looked at Cole. "While you and Hazel called Terran, Gar and I listened to a bit more of the tapes."

Gar looked up at Hazel and he sighed, "They recorded the night we set the fire." Tim cautiously pushed the tape forward before pressing play.

— rapture —