Shadows and Cards (a Batboys x OC)

Chapter 11

   Athena

After Athena had sent Damian away, her energy was almost gone. She crawled to the closet, where she changed into a pair of sweats, and climbed into bed. She was out like a light.

Her dreams were the same after Shadow had embedded itself in her. She was in a world where elements are separated by boundaries. And after she walked through all of them, she would come upon a temple in the center. It reflected every color the eye could see, and some it could not. But she could never enter it, she would always be pulled away.

The dreams started two years ago when she first discovered the Shadowstone in her chest one morning. Dr. Keystone had seen the stone as a blessing. He experimented on it day and night, trying to unlock its secrets, but he would always be unsuccessful. He blamed it on her, saying she could let him in if she wanted to, and punished her. The scars on her body reminded her of the tasks she failed. Every time she did not do a task she was assigned to, she would be cut and lashed, burned, and poisoned. But never enough to kill her. So she could live with her mistakes. But at night, when she would cry silent tears in her cage, a voice would sing lullabies in a foreign language to her, and it soothed her to sleep.

When Athena woke up, the first thing she thought was about Damian and her promise. She opened her eyes, to find that it was still dark. She rolled over and looked at the clock. It was one hour until dawn. 

Athena groaned and got out of bed and made her way to the closet. When she entered, the lights automatically turned on, to reveal a stark white room. She stepped into the middle of the room, and a beeping sound emitted around her. A voice spoke to her. Welcome, Athena. Scanning now. The beam in front of her scanned her face, and a screen popped up in front of her. Today there will be a high of 89F and a low of 79F. Loading possible outfits now. 

Athena pressed one of them, and the screen disappeared. One of the walls slid open with fluid motion, to reveal the clothes hanging. A simple white tee with a denim jacket, and jean shorts with knee-high combat boots. She pulled them off, and the doors closed. When she put on all the clothes, a hole in the back corner of the room opened up, and she tossed last night sweats in it. Processing. Now cleaning. Athena started her way to the door and made her long journey down to the kitchen.

When she entered, she was not that surprised to find Grayson sitting at the island eating breakfast. She knew he had left last night to go on patrol, and was even less surprised to find him still in his combat suit. But what surprised her, was how he had a gash on his chest and a black eye.

"What happened!" she demanded.

Grayson spoke between bites. "Had a little mishap with Harley Quinn. She may or may or not have nicked me with a blade."

Athena exhaled. "Alright, come here. Let me help you."

Grayson paused eating and looked up at her. "Pardon me?"

"Do I need to repeat myself? Come. here."

Grayson hesitated, but he reluctantly stood and walked over to her. She inspected the cut. It wasn't too deep. She sighed.

"Ok, I'm going to say this one time and one time only. Don't. Freak. Out. Ok?" she said.

Grayson nodded. She breathed. She pressed her palm to his would and began to murmur in Shadow Language. Blacklight emitted from her palm, and Grayson's eyes widened. She continued to murmur until she could not feel his blood on her hands. When she took her hands off of his chest, the wound was nothing more than a strip of pink skin. Her vision swam for a second, and she braced herself on the island. 

When she didn't feel lightheaded anymore, she found that Grayson was still gaping at her.

"How did you do that?" he asked.