Being Titans II | Teen Titans [7]

My Body Is A Cage

20
My Body Is A Cage

His lifeless body rested atop the ashes of Titans Academy. Ashes of the future. They couldn't take their eyes off of him.

Abel couldn't fathom it. It was the first time in years they'd seen their father so... still. He was always moving, always working.

He worked himself thin to prevent this. He planned for everything. They all did. But it wasn't enough.

Abel fell to their knees. Flashes of the attack burned their minds eye. With a groan, they fell at their father's side. "Dad..." They whimpered.

Abel pushed his shoulder. He was cold as ice. The impenetrable armor that was practically his skin had eroded. Yet he remained stiff as a board. His once hazel eyes lifeless.

"Daddy," Their face fell into his chest. A sob tore out of them. "I'm..so...sor—" A hiccup of a breath chopped their words to pieces.

The body beneath them couldn't be made of a dream. It was real. It was their Father. "I did this," Abel whispered. "This is all my fault."

Calvin turned away from Dream with furrowed brows. "What? Abel, this is not on you. Besides, we don't have time to place blame right now." A tremble beneath the burning campus nearly knocked him off his feet.

"I did this. I broke the rules. I led Superboy Prime, and Mordru right to us..." They choked on a sob. "..I let you out of Pandora's Box." They sat up to glare at him.

"Abel," Calvin gulped. He took a slow step toward them. "You did the best you knew how, okay? You have to believe that... I have to believe that." He forced those words over the lump in his throat.

He stopped beside Abel. "I am so sorry, I am. I know this isn't easy, I—"

"I just watched my entire family die! How could you possibly know what that's like?" An explosive crack of thunder roared in the wake of their words.

Abel's powers flared. Their body was engulfed in cerulean light. Their eyes burned a furious cobalt blue.

Calvin's gemstone flashed. He inhaled sharply. With the shake of his head, he got down on his knees. "I know what it's like, Abel, because it happened to me." He leveled with them.

"One day, I was regular kid, with a regular family. Then I rode the bus home and everything changed. It was snowing that day, and my parents were supposed to pick me up but they forgot. At least that's what I thought."

Tears swelled in his eyes as he recalled that day. Lifetimes had passed since then. Yet he could feel it just as fresh as it was the first time.

"I walked into my house and found my parents dead on the floor. I tried to heal them, to use my powers and all I did was make my father experience the agony of dying all over again..."

Abel's aura began to wane. Stars dripped from their eyes. They sniffled in a breath.

Calvin squeezed his eyes shut. A single tear slipped free. He exhaled slowly. "I blamed myself too. I made horrible, self-destructive, time-destructive, decisions out of that blame."

He opened his eyes and narrowed them at Abel. "Do you know what it brought me?" He didn't wait for an answer. "More pain. More death. More self-destruction."

"Maybe that's what you deserve," They hissed at him. "After everything that's happened? Maybe this is what we both deserve!" They motioned to the destruction.