From: D Benway To: OTL Subject: [OTL]: One Ring [Bat-Types] (1:11) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:40:19 -0700 (PDT) One Ring [1:11] forged by Benway This story borrows some characters for not-for-profit use from DC Comics. This is not a happy story, and may be disturbing in parts for sensitive readers. Many thanks to Sevenall for proof-reading assistance. _______________________________________________________________________________ I'm wearing it because they didn't invite me to the funeral. Rayner died right here in Gotham, but I wasn't good enough to be invited. Never am. Tim said he saved the world, maybe the whole universe, by killing Darkseid when he did. Of course, he died too. I met him once, at a party. I liked him. He made me laugh. Tim got invited to the funeral. He even helped in the fight, once or twice. He never got near Darkseid, He saved Flash and then Flash did something important, got to see Kyle get killed. Shit, he would've got an invite anyway, even if he'd been doing homework. He asked if I wanted to come, he could get me in, but I said no, I had shit to do. He knew I was shitting him. We went to the funeral for all the people who got killed in the fight, though. I was helping to get them to safety. I did good, that night. When I saw Tim with his arm broken after it was all over, I made some really sharp cracks, then I went home and punched my pillow 'til it busted. I mean, shit, that thing was some kinda god or something. I'm good at gym, I got a killer right. What's that against a god? The story came out, after. Rayner was a hero. They wrote books about the Lanterns, did stuff on TV. Then came the dolls and the masks and the rings. I found my ring in the sewer under Kane St, when Tim and I were going after some drug pusher who lost us down there. We kiss in some pretty strange places. Still. He had to go home, and so did I. I saw it lying there. Some kid's cheap metal copy of the Ring. I wore it to school the next day. Lots of other kids had them, in Gotham. Rayner was the big hero, to everybody. Geeks wore them, nerds wore them, trash like me wore them. No-one really noticed, not until I went out on patrol. Bats didn't like it. He didn't say anything, but I knew. Mom's out working, and we're in my bed, still kind of figuring things out. Figuring out things with Rob is like ten thousand times better than anything I did with fuckin' Dean. Rob's still trying to get the rubber on, which is why I can't stop thinking of all this shit. Got distracted. Lost the rhythm. "So whatta you think?" I ask. "Of what?" he says, not really paying attention. "Of this," I say, showing him the ring. "Oh darn," he says. "I'm trying to put it on backwards." "You think it makes me sexier?" I say. "That's it," he says. "Got it on, now." "It's not like I said anything," I say. "About what?" he says. "About this," I say, showing him the ring. "Oh," he says. "Oh?" I say. "Shit," he says. "What?" I say. "Brings back memories," he says. "Didn't you notice it?" I say. "You always wear rings," he says. He sits down, way down the other end. "What?" I say. "Sorry," he says. "Like, what's the problem, Boy Wonder?" I say. "Don't call me that," he snaps. "What the fuck?" I say. "I always call you that." "Not like that," he says. "So I'm kind of wondering what's got up your ass all of a sudden," I say. "Like I said," he says. "Brings back memories." "Care to share?" I say. "Not really" he says. "And why?" I say. "Because you've got all-" he says. "All what?" I say. "Look, I'm sorry," he says. "Bitchy?" I say. "That what you couldn't say, rich boy?" "No," he says. Then I see he's crying. Shit. Hate it when he pulls this kind of shit. Still. "Baby, what's wrong?" I say. "That night," he says. "Why couldn't I have done more?" "Come here," I say. He doesn't. He pulls his knees up and buries his head in them, and it's like I'm seeing him naked for the first time. "I keep thinking, over and over, what if I'd seen it?" he says. "I walked right past it, Darkseid's machine. Didn't see it. If I'd seen it, I could have done something. Maybe stopped it all before it ever happened. Maybe kept all those people alive. Maybe kept her alive." Her again. Fuckin' Batgirl. She'd be the one here, not me, if it hadn't happened. "Hey," I say. "I mean, I could have-", he says. "Hey," I say. "All those people-" he says. "HEY!" I say. "Huh?" he says. "All those people you saved," I say. "But-," he says. "It would have been worse if you hadn't been there," I say. "The orphanage, the old folks home." He looks up. He's so sad. "If you wanna go," I say. "No," he says. He's kinda trying to smile now. "You'd look great in a Lantern suit," he says. "Oh yeah?" I say. "All green and black and skin tight," he says. "Mmmm," I say. We kind of fall off the end of the bed and he fucks my brains out on a big pile of t-shirts on the floor that need washing. Mmmm. Boy really is a wonder. [end of part 1]