"Trust is a fragile flame; even gods must cup it carefully."
---
The tower was quiet that night. Too quiet.
Jump City slept beneath a silver moon and the Titans had retired one by one. Training had drained even Damian. But King didn't sleep. He rarely did.
He sat cross-legged in the training hall, still as stone, the faint hum of the tower's systems surrounding him. His eyes were closed, but his senses extended. Outward, downward, beneath.
He felt tremors, faint as whispers. Earth shifting unnaturally. Someone was moving rock under the tower.
He opened his eyes.
Tara's Secret
Tara sat alone in her room, phone dimly lit. Her fingers trembled as she typed.
Tara: He trusts me. They all do. Especially him.
Slade: Good. Trust is a weapon. When the time comes, you'll strike cleanly.
Tara: …You said no one would get hurt.
Slade: And I meant it. You'll be free, Tara. You'll have your place. Just follow my lead.
She bit her lip, deleting and rewriting her next message a dozen times before finally sending:
Tara: I don't know if I can. He's… not like the others.
There was a long pause. Then,
Slade: No one is immune to control. Not even him.
The message ended there. But Tara didn't move.
Something in her chest felt heavy. Like the weight of the Earth she commanded.
Then she froze.
A shadow flickered under her door. Motionless. Present.
The air around her seemed to still, thick with something unbending and unmoving.
She opened the door slowly.
King stood there, calm as ever, hands folded behind his back. His expression unreadable.
"I was wondering," He said softly, "how long you'd keep talking to a ghost."
Her phone nearly slipped from her hands. "You... how...?"
"I listen to the world not because I choose to but because, " He said. "It tells me things. Lies are heavy, Tara. The Earth always feels them."
She took a step back, defensive. "You don't understand! He's helping me!"
King's gaze didn't waver. "Is that what he told you? That control is help?"
Tara's throat tightened. "He… he said he'd protect me."
King stepped closer. Not threatening, but solid like a truth you couldn't avoid.
"Then why are you still afraid?"
That hit harder than any accusation.
She bit her lip, trembling. "You think you know everything, don't you? You think you're some perfect savior!"
King's voice stayed low. "No. I am proof that imperfection can still stand."
He didn't reach for her. He didn't scold her. He simply stood between her and the phone, his presence alone enough to still the tremors running through the floor.
"When the time comes," He said quietly, "you will have to choose. Not between him and me. Between who you were told to be and who you already are."
Then he turned and left, leaving her in the silence that followed—a silence louder than any shout.
Tara sank to her knees, tears cutting lines through dust. She whispered to the empty room:
"I don't know if I can…"
And somewhere in the dark, the earth trembled—uncertain, divided, waiting.
The Titans' Concern
The next morning, the Titans noticed the shift.
"She's been quiet," Raven murmured. "Even for her."
Nightwing frowned. "Maybe the training's been too much. She's young."
Damian scoffed. "Weakness shouldn't be excused because of age."
King entered just then, calm as always. "Nor condemned because of fear." He added.
They turned to him. "You think something's wrong?" Starfire asked gently.
King looked out over the bay. "No. I know something is right… struggling to surface."
Nightwing tilted his head. "You sound like you've seen this before."
King nodded slowly. "Everyone who has ever sought redemption must first learn the language of self-betrayal."
The others fell silent. Even Damian found no words.
The Faultline
That night, Tara lay awake again, staring at the ceiling.
The ground below her bed quivered faintly—her subconscious playing out in soil and stone.
A voice buzzed from the phone. Slade.
Slade: They don't understand you, Tara. They never will. But I do.
She hesitated.
Then another voice echoed faintly, unbidden, calm and grounded—King's.
"You are the Earth. You can crumble, you can shake—but you always endure."
Her hands trembled.
Tears welled up as she whispered to herself, "Then maybe… maybe I can still choose."
The phone screen flickered.
Slade: Are you listening?
Tara: …Yes.
Slade: Then prepare. The time's coming soon.
The message vanished into darkness.
Outside, the ocean roared softly against the cliffs—and in the training hall below, King opened his eyes once more.
He felt it—the faint, shuddering rhythm of two forces colliding: loyalty and guilt.
He whispered to the quiet air,
"Then let the earth decide who stands unbroken."
And he waited.
An extra chapter for my readers. I wish a Merry Christmas to all my readers.🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄🎁🎁🎄
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