I want to thank you profusely for reading and reviewing my work. It means a lot to me that people like what I write since I have plans to write for a living. I'm glad I was able to entertain y'all.
However, I have some bad news to impart. I'm leaving. Not permanently, but next week I'll be moving somewhere I won't have internet access, and I'll be there for several weeks or months, I don't really know. So I won't be able to check on the stories I've been reading (which pains me) and I won't be able to update. (which pains me more)
BUT! All is not lost. I'm going to continue writing during my long absence, and with any luck I'll have Anywhere but Home and Trinity of the Stars finished by the time I come back. And I've got plenty of ideas, as well as some new stuff in the works. Here's a few previews!
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This one's untitled right now, basically a rewrite of The End. I promise it'll be cool.
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Excerpt from the diary of Raven Roth.
The nightmares came again last night. I've tried everything I know to get rid of them, but they keep coming. Every night, I live through their deaths, my friends and others, innocents everywhere and others who've thrown their lot in with me trying to stop what's coming. During the day I get flashes, and I'll see their faces covered with blood, wounds just appearing, their lifeblood spilling all over the ground...I've been able to hide my reactions to these visions, but they keep getting worse. Yesterday, I saw Beast Boy's head ripped off by invisible forces and ask me if I was okay from down on the ground. All the evidence points to one inevitable conclusion: what's coming cannot be stopped. Fighting is pointless, it will only lead to a painful death for all involved, rather than painlessly passing on. That is the only gift I can give to the people I love, preparing them to accept fate and die without struggling for no purpose.
My birthday is in two weeks. Armageddon is in two weeks.
But I repeat myself.
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This is called Through a Broken Lens. Parallel universe and my opinion of Red X's identity.
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The museum was quiet, just like the one he'd been in earlier that night. Security was no problem. The interface devices in his belt automatically hacked into the museum computers, displaying a full map of the building inside his mask, complete with all security cameras marked. His latest addition to his arsenal was an optical filter that made invisible lasers easier to see than a tomato in a snowdrift.
Red X wandered invisibly, looking for something good to swipe. Surprisingly, most of the exhibits were rather low-quality, and his internal scanners showed a good deal of the items present were replicas. Did someone hit this place already? He wondered.
The sound of breaking glass hit his ears suddnely, and he teleported reflexively into the room it had come from. A pair of young men dressed like typical street thugs were ransacking the place. Red X winced at the complete lack of style, subtlety, and intelligence. A marker on his mask's HUD showed him that the two had tripped the silent alarm, and one of the fools was dangerously close to setting off the one that makes noise as well, menacing a large display case with a baseball bat.
"Yo, man, check this shit out! It's like a fuckin' gold mine!" He said to his companion, who was busy stuffing his pockets with jewels from another case.
The silent alarm is bad enough, but the main one will lock the place down, not to mention draw every cop within ten blocks. Red X drew his grappling hook and fired, yanking the baseball bat out of the youth's hands.
"The hell?" He looked around wildly for his assailant.
Another grapple shot out, wrapping around the confused young man. He fell to the ground, trussed up neatly. Red X deactivated his invisibilty seconds before planting a fist into the other thug's stomach. He followed with a flurry of vicious blows too fast for the human eye to follow. The man collapsed in a small heap.
Hearing a faint noise behind him, Red X flung himself to the ground, avoiding the sonic blast that thundered through the space he'd been standing a split second before.
"What is it with people and robbing museums these days? Is it like an initiation thing, or what?" Beast Boy's voice echoed through the darkened muesum.
"Looks like you're getting clumsy, X." Robin watched Red X carefully as he stood up.
"Blame Tweedledee and Tweedledum here for setting off the alarm." He replied confidently. "You know I'm too good to make mistakes like that, kid."
"But you sure aren't too good to get caught," Cyborg retorted.
"Titans, GO!" Before they could rush him, though, Red X flung one of his many X-shaped weapons into the midst of the superheroes. It exploded in a dazzling flash, blinding everyone in the room except for Red X, whose visor conveniently tinted opaque at the right time. He teleported out, heading for his cycle.
Red X revved his engine, taking off down the street at top speed. Too late, he realized what had been amiss that whole time--the flying redhead, whatsername, Starfire, hadn't been there with the others. Something seized him roughly by the scruff of the neck, lifting him off his bike. It sped down the street, crashing into a nearby storefront.
"You owe me a new bike," he grunted as he was seized in a painfully tight hold.
"And you owe us the return of what you have stolen," Starfire replied as she flew back towards the museum. The other Titans were gathered outside, mostly recovered from the flash.
"Man, my eyes are throbbing. I should have brought sunglasses." Beast Boy grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
Raven raised an eyebrow. "Why? It's the middle of the night. You'd look like an idiot."
Starfire landed in front of Robin. He looked Red X in the eyes of his mask. "What were you after and where did you stash it?"
Red X chuckled. "I hadn't picked anything out yet. Lots of low-quality merchandise, y'know. You might wanna check those two thugs I took care of for loot. Really, you should be thanking me."
"We could have taken them out ourselves," Robin growled. The thugs in question had been tied again with a line from Robin's own grapple, and were lying on the sidewalk.
"So, it doesn't look much like he can get away," Cyborg said. "I think we oughta find out who's under that mask."
Red X supressed a stab of panic. "Come on, I don't go taking people's masks off when I capture them." He writhed, trying unsuccessfully to reach his belt. Robin reached a hand for his mask. "Look, kid. I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"What, you can't be that ugly," Beast Boy joked, recieving an elbow from Raven.
The mask came off smoothly, revealing...
"Oh my God." Robin dropped the mask he was holding in shock. The face staring back at him was virtually identical to his, except for the X-shaped scar on the left side of his face.
"Red X...looks like Robin?" Cyborg said confusedly.
"Everything I know is a lie!" Beast Boy wailed.
Starfire craned her neck to get a better look at her captive. "You do not have a twin brother, do you Robin?"
Robin shook his head, unable to tear his eyes away from the face before him. "Not that I know of..."
Raven stepped closer. "I know this sounds like something Beast Boy would say, but maybe he's a clone."
Red X smirked. "Told ya you shouldn't have taken my mask off. And I'm not Robin's brother or his clone. I'm Robin."
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Bad Luck Aria, basically what I wanted to do with Raven and Jinx in Anywhere but Home but got caught up in the plot.
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Everything had been going great. I actually helped fight the Brotherhood, listened to that one kid and tried being good. Sure, the other HIVE guys were pissed. Can't say I'd blame them. Everything was cool for about a week. All us honorary Titans hung out at the tower for a bit.
Did it last?
No.
Everybody left, going back to their own places. Including him, the one I'd thought I liked. He wanted me to come with him. I said no. Why? Fairly easy to guess that, I think. Nobody else would talk to me. They all tried to look through me, pretend I wasn't really there, that they weren't letting a known thief walk around freely.
I knew they weren't going to give me a chance, so I didn't stick aroud to give them a chance to reject me.
That, and the voices started up again.
It pissed me off, at first. Brother Blood said his mental powers could cure me of that. I guess he lied. Not like that's the first time someone lied to me. But I had been so hopeful it would be true, that they'd be gone. And now...
What does it feel like to be alone inside my own skull?
I can't remember.
At least I don't talk back to them, right? I'm not crazy if I don't answer when they talk to me. It doesn't help when I start seeing things, though. Another reason I like the dark is that if I start hallucinating, at least I can't see it. That was why I was in my room so long. We were fighting the Titans, and all of a sudden, giant spiders started crawling out of my mouth, and the sky started melting like one of those tye-dye shirts, and everybody started ripping off their own skins and bleeding all over the paving squirrels...that's why I ran back here, to my apartment.
But maybe all the visions had gone away by now.
I stuck my head out the door, my third or fifth cigarette still hanging in my mouth. Even with all the lights off, it was brighter in here than in my room. It hurt my eyes, but nothing crazy happened. Now that I was out of my room, I could smell myself, and boy, I needed a shower.
So I took one. It wasn't too bad, I mean, the showerhead started staring at me and winking about halfway through, so I blew it up, but I finished washing my hair in the sink. I decided not to bother with the hairdo, or my usual outfit. Black jeans and a black hoodie, nothing fancy.
My answering machine was beeping when I came out. I watched it for several minutes before actually listening to my messages. I didn't want it to bite me again, after all.
Beep.
Gizmo. "Thanks a lot for leaving us to those pit-smelling Titans, crudface! We--"
Beep.
Seemore. "Jinx, what happened to you? You just freaked out and--"
Beep.
Mammoth. "Hey, uh, are you okay? I--"
Beep.
Billy. "What happened back--"
Beep.
Beep beep beep beep.
"Messages erased."
It was starting to look at me funny, so I picked it up and bit it. "That oughta shut you up," I muttered.
My stomach started growling. I ignored it, since I didn't have any food anyways. Being broke'll do that. But I did go into the kitchen and pick out a knife, a nice big sturdy number.
I put my shoes on.
Walked out.
Bye.
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And a Danny Phantom fic entitled Dangerous. I'm debating making it DannyxEmber, since in my opinion that pairing doesn't get much love.
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Danny felt himself materialize in a dark place. It wasn't like materializing after being intangible, it was slower, and therefore, painful. The place he floated in was almost completely black. He put his hand out and encountered a smooth surface. It curved all around him, above and below.
"Okay, where am I, how did I get here, and why am I in a tube?" Danny wondered aloud. As if his voice was a signal, green glows flared into being beyond the confines of his tube. Shadowy forms stirred.
"The specimen has arrived safely. Shall we begin?"
"Yes, yes. The procedure is long overdue."
Danny hammered his fist on the glass, trying to attract attention. "Hey! Let me out!" The two blurry forms paid him no mind, gliding about what appeared to be a room with practiced efficiency. A small hole opened in the base of the tube, and liquid began to fill it. Danny floated closer to the top of the tube and attempted to phase through it. The smooth material (somehow he doubted it was glass) rebuffed his efforts. Frantic now, Danny hit it with everything he could think of, but it remained solid. The liquid was almost up to his neck now, and he inhaled deeply, unleashing the full force of his ghostly wail for as long as he could before the strange liquid started to pour into his mouth and down into his lungs, choking off his airflow. He blacked out.
The two figures studied the unconscious half ghost in the tube.
"It resists."
"No matter."
"The procedure will be successful this time."
"No more mistakes."
"It shall be perfected."
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Not to mention several other crossovers, parodies and original story ideas have flown through my amazing head. I think you people will be pleased. Don't forget me, I'll be back.
Peace and love,
Frost Mage