𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄 。 𝘫𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘥 {1} ✔️

eighteen

┌─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┐

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
END YOUR LITTLE
EXPERIMENT OR I WILL
BURN THIS PLACE DOWN
MYSELF

└─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───┘

          → HANK CARRIED ROSE'S body, dawn and gar behind him. hank walked into the infirmary and put her down on the bed.

dick walked up and kory spoke to him, "so... which problem do you wanna fix first?" she asked.

——

jason looked over at octavia who was not sitting next to him. both of them were against the wall but still in the same chairs.

jason looked over her, her split lip and eyebrow, a faint black eye forming on her right eye, the gash that ran along her cheek bone, and the ring of bruised around her neck.

he trailed his eyes down and noticed her poorly bandaged ankle, blood bleeding through the white bandage.

"octavia..." jason said softly, yet loud enough to wake her up.

"hm?" octavia asked softly, leaning her head back against the wall, looking at jason.

"i'm so sorry." jason said softly. "this isn't your fault..." octavia said softly.

"i should never have brought you with me." jason said.

"you couldn't have known..." octavia replied, keeping her soft tone. her voice was weak from being choked out by slade.

"but i'm sorry. i feel like this is my fault." jason said.

"it's not..." octavia said, "it's not... deathstroke is only after me... and the older titans..." she explained.

"but—"

"i can take this... it wouldn't be the first time..." octavia cut him off.

"he's done this to you before?" jason asked. octavia nodded weakly, "there's a lot of things i haven't told you, jason. maybe because... i was scared, so scared of facing the reality of it... or... maybe because i've been trying so hard to bury it."

"just... to forget about it." octavia added. jason looked at her, his face full of concern, "and maybe... things would've been different if i have just... told you."

"don't start blaming yourself." jason said.

octavia chuckled softly, "looks like we're both at fault here..." jason let out a short laugh and nodded slightly, frowning when octavia started to close her eyes.

"hey." jason said, waking her back up.

"jason... if this all goes wrong... and... i don't make it—"

"stop."

"no... please." octavia said softly, "if i don't make it... jason... i.." octavia paused, groaning and shaking her head, "jason... i lo—" slade walked into the room, making the two of them look at him.

slade had his sword and a bowl of water. slade placed his sword down on the table and then the bowl of water.

"you really are a piece of shit, you know that?" jason said, "rose deserves better than you for a father."

"a freak in a mask who's name sounds like a bad case of vd." jason said as deathstroke dipped his fingers into the bowl of water and dragged it across the sharpening block that already on the table.

"my friends would never give her up. you know that?" jason said.

"well then, you two are the price they'll pay." slade reached over and grabbed his sword. "fuck you, you pretentious asshole." jason said.

slade looked down, examining his sword. "hey look at me." jason said, making slade look at him, "i'm not scared of you."

"but she is." slade replied. jason looked over at octavia. her head was turned away from them, too tired and too weak to care about the situation happening.

she just wanted to go home.

"she's terrified." slade said, he started dragging his sword on the sharpening block, "and you should be too. but instead you've played by that charlatan, dick grayson." slade continued to sharpen his sword.

"who gives costumes to foolish kids, making them believe they're heroes." slade continued. jason kept his eyes on his sword. jason swallowed hard as slade continued.

"leading you," he turned his sword over, "like lambs to the slaughter." he said, slowly dragging the sword across the block, "not to worry. soon, you'll learn. for death," he lifted his sword up to his face to examine the blade, "leads to purification."

jason swallowed again and looked up at him.

——

hank sat alone in the training room. dawn walked up to the door. "her vitals are stable." dawn said.

"i know i got carried away today." hank said. dawn walked down the steps and up to hank.

"we're gonna get jason and octavia back." dawn said.

"it's more than that, dawn." hank replied, "i know there was times that coach.." dawn rubbed his back, "i know what's its like.. sitting in the dark. alone. hurt. praying for somebody... hell, anybody, to come and save you. waiting. but nobody ever comes."

"hank..."

"i joked about leave them, but i'm not ready to give up on those pieces of shits." hank said, "no matter how much they make me wanna punch them in the face sometimes."

dawn cupped his face, making him look up at her, "we can't give up. kory's right. if we turn ourselves into monsters trying to fight deathstroke, there won't be any good left when it's over." hank put his arm around dawns waist and she pulled him into her stomach.

dawn gently rubbed his head and back as she comforted him.

after dawn and hank's talk, dick was walking down the halls when dawn came up to him. "we need to talk." dawn said. dick turned around.

"okay."

"after we kill deathstroke. this is over."

"the titans? we don't need to go there." dick stated to walk away.

"i wasn't asking." dick turned back around and crossed his arms. "we both know deathstroke didn't pull dr. light's name out of a hat." dawn started walking over to him as she continued to speak, "this place, what we did. it's all coming back. which is probably what we deserve but these kids... they had no idea what they were signing up for."

dawn stopped, "not telling them might've been easier for you but it wasn't right. reopening this tower was a mistake. how many people have to die for you to realize that? how many times does octavia be put in the line of fire for you to realize that?" dawn said.

"whatever reason you did it. whether it was selfish, or you just wanted to pave over the past with some experiment to make us forget what we did doesn't matter. this isn't about you anymore. or us." dawn paused.

"end your little experiment or i will burn this place down myself."

——

not to be over dramatic or anything but
i'd die for jason and octavia
thank you for coming to my ted talk