ILLUSION || Jason Todd

EIGHT

❝GO THERE EVERY NIGHT❞

TAYLOR SWIFT, I THINK HE KNOWS

With Dawn in the hospital, comatosed, and everyone else left with minor injuries, Lorelei and Dick left the hospital promptly when the Detective received a call from his work, stating Rachel had been seen with another woman that did not fit the description of the family. It had only been a few hours, no longer than three since the incident, and Rachel was already in a newfound danger. Apparently the woman with magenta hair she had been seen with was a murderer. Go figure.

One quick stop to apartment 304 was made, speedily gathering their things, before Dick and Lorelei were once again on the road, heading to the location Dick was informed with; which was apparently not too far away, a spark of luck for once.

The one redeeming quality to this road trip was gaining the passenger seat. Lorelei wished it were in better circumstances, with Rachel sitting in the back for once, but it was still a small blessing to count in that moment.

At least, she tried to think that way. Then Dick opened his mouth and ruined the silence, pulling his focus away from the road momentarily. "You did good, on the rooftop." He complimented, not missing the disagreement on Lorelei's face before watching the road once again.

It wasn't that she thought she had done awfully, she knew that with all things considered she had done rather well, only coming away from the fight with a sore throat and bruise forming from the tight whip.

But she was close - awfully and dangerously close - to calling upon her Archmage for some air elemental help to push those siblings away from her. Four years with one slip up was a record, yes, but all attempts to stay safe to this point would have been erased. Her safety, her life, her future. Everything would change; and not in ways Lorelei wished to have.

"I couldn't use my abilities, they had no thoughts, no fears, they didn't seem human." She shared her suspicion from the previous night that was still replaying in her mind, even now in the light of day. The violet eyed girl had even wondered if they were indestructible, given how everyone was overpowered so easily and despite punches landing, they took little to no damage.

Dick nodded, understanding her thought process behind the family of four and their weird strength. Metahumans, magical beings, aliens, they were not things Dick was too unfamiliar with, he had the consideration himself. "What are your abilities?"

Lorelei sighed, shifting her position on the seat before her limbs got too numb. "My elemental magic is of the mind. Think of things like mental manipulation, telepathy, I could mind link if I focused enough. I've heard of others shifting their consciousness into others but I've not attempted that, it's a very rare level of the mind elemental to possess."

It certainly was rare. There were, of course, ranks within the elementals. Every mage had their limitations, everyone knew that. Some where, naturally, weaker than others. The magic system in Centia was not complicated by any means - especially if you grew up in the realm but like many cultures, if you grow up around certain things you would gravitate towards the customs you had always known - but that was certainly no tale for today.

For the simple reason being her Archmage; the sole reason magic continues to be implemented within every generation of mage. It was a touchy subject, one with a long history Lorelei did not wish to tell Dick. Especially not when she had read a letter just a few short hours ago - the previous night - in regards to his departure. A cowardly move, really.

"Can you use magic from other elementals?" Dick asked the curious question, a natural question to ask. She expected it, she just didn't like it. Answering the question was going to open a can of worms and Lorelei did not want now to be the time to address those worms.

But she also knew Dick would press her on this and if he were to help, he should at least understand her powers. "There are limitations, it's essentially borrowing magic. It's too dangerous for me to do. I can do blood magic, too. Then there's the newer ones. I can sense people's fears and manipulate those into hallucinations, either physically or mentally."

"Why won't you use those ones? The newer ones?" He said while absorbing her explanations. It was a lot to take in, Lorelei knew that, but Dick was handling it well. In fact, his reactions were similar to Bruce and Alfred's. Curiously asking questions as if she was a mystery to solve - not that she minded it, she understood their intentions.

Lorelei looked down to her feet, knowing the question came with a heavily complicated answer, one Dick Grayson had been dancing around getting for the past few days. "They're artificial and they can scare me, I get side effects too." She replied, glancing at Dick as he went deep into thought.

The quietness returns, nothing but outside noises from the road and the car engine as background noise. It didn't bother Lorelei, there were many moments like this on the road with Dick and Rachel but she still couldn't help the uneasy feeling within her. Dick was thinking about her, her abilities, her past. That made Lorelei nervous and Lorelei hated feeling nervous.

"What type of side effects?" Dick asked, the silence being erased with his words as he confirmed Lorelei's nervousness about thinking of her and everything to do with her.

"Well, there's the usual things like exhaustion from overuse but... I also experience my own abilities. They cause awful nightmares, mild nightmares in comparison to what my... victims... experience." Lorelei shared, trying to find the right noun to use as a describing factor, eventually landing on the truth; they were victims.

It was a harsh reality she had to accept rather quickly. Her artificial abilities weren't designed to help, no, Lorelei was told exactly what they were created for by none other than the creators themselves. It was disgusting, it was wrong, and their words still echoed in the nightmares her abilities played on. Her own biggest fear.

It was the same thing, a continuous cycle, since the day it happened ten little months ago. The topic was always the same; that night. Perhaps some nights she was lucky, where only a small detail would haunt her from that night. Lorelei suspected on those nights her artificial abilities were not as strong, especially in comparison to the nights where it was every little detail; the entire night on an endless disc until she had awoken. Unfortunately for Lorelei - unlike her victims, who had a lucky escape from her abilities once her hold on their mind was released - it was an every night ordeal.

Hence taking a moment to collect herself whenever she woke from a terror-filled dream, minus moments where anxiety slapped her face within seconds of waking up.

By Dick's silence returning, Lorelei could understand he knew what that meant. He may not have liked her wording, the small furrow of his brow alerted Lorelei of that, but he understood, at a minimum. Lorelei didn't know this - she had yet to enter the mind of Dick Grayson, even accidentally like she had with Rachel for those short seconds and despite his words of having to hurt harder earlier, Dick was vague enough to leave it open ended - but he, too, had felt like his opponents were victims under his touch.

Just a short hour before returning to apartment 304 to fight the family of four, Dick was a rather violent back-up for Hawk and Dove. He was becoming aggressive, forgetting his moral code under the pretence of 'helping' and 'doing the right thing'. It was an easy thing; to lose control. People got hurt around him and Dick Grayson would do anything to spare people from the pain that danced around him - even if it hurt those people in the process. Dick Grayson had commitment issues, yes, but it was his way of protecting people.

But much like Lorelei, how long would it be until his past came to bite his ass? Resurface?

Lorelei Hansworth and Dick Grayson were rather alike and truthfully, that scared Dick. It helped him understand why Bruce was so quick to bring her into the team, especially fast as Dick had not long 'quit' his role as Robin before Lorelei was recruited, but the young blonde mage was like a mirror. He was seeing the parts of himself he did not like in Lorelei, he found himself wanting to help her fix those parts of herself. In return, that made him realise he had to fix himself. That's what truly scared Dick.