A Hero Growing Up

Billy wandered most of the day, checking out the procedure for registering for classes, how to set up a bank account at the local big bank, paying for and biking around on a bicycle, and seeing the area.

He enjoyed himself, being outside and being around the new town. This part of L.A. seemed nice, not like the areas he had visited in his own world before.

The small college and the people around it seemed to be very bouncy, and yet laid back. Definitely his kind of people. By the time he had managed to find a book store, a comic shop, and a top of the line computer store, he was very happy.

And most of the day had flown, so he settled down on the green somewhere on campus, pulled out his laptop and attached the booster he had acquired and logged in and sent an IM to Cassie, hoping she was on.

wzrdoftherock: Hey, Cassie! You around?

...he steps out of the door and blinks as light flares.

He staggers back, and his back meets wall, a familiar one. His body feels... different. He looks down and something like shock fills his mind as he sees his young, small body. The body of a kid! What was happening?

He looks upwards and sees the Six, and recognizes the trial room, and confusion fills his mind.

"HELLO, BILLY BATSON. WELCOME HOME."

"What... what happened? Why am I here?"

"YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR TRIALS. YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR QUEST AND PROVEN YOURSELF WORTHY TO BE THE CHAMPION AND THE WIZARD. WE ARE SATISFIED."

He is gaping. His mind scrambles to grasp what they mean.

"What? But, I was dead... what do you mean?"

"YOU WERE SET A TRIAL TO PROVE YOURSELF, AND TO LEARN TO EXCISE THE DARKNESS WITHIN YOU. YOU DID BOTH, BY LIVING THROUGH THEM, AND BY GROWING PAST THEM. AND YOU SHOWED US YOUR DEDICATION WITH A LONG LIFE OF SERVING AS CHAMPION AND WIZARD BOTH. NOW, THE TIME HAS COME TO REJOIN YOUR TIMELINE WHERE YOU SHOULD BE. EIGHT MONTHS HAS PASSED SINCE YOU ARRIVED HERE. EIGHT MONTHS IN WHICH YOU LIVED OVER THOSE 100,000 YEARS."

He is gasping as tears flow across his eyes and down his face. His knees tremble and give out.

"I... don't... how?"

Even as his panic and confusion rise, a gentle touch of warmth fills him and he feels the panic wash away.

"FEAR NOT. YOU SHOWED LOVE AND COMPASSION, HONESTY AND STRENGTH. AND YOU PROVED YOURSELF THE ONLY WAY A PERSON CAN, BY LIVING A GOOD LIFE."

Then the room dissolves into whirling light as he takes a breath, and then the room fades back in as he exhales, and he is standing in his rooms on the Rock.

He blinks as he looks up and into a mirror. His face is young... so very young.

He feels a wave of weariness wash over him, overpoweringly, and he staggers over to his bed, falling onto it, and into a deep sleep.

As he sleeps, the last of his healing happens. Memory of the past 100,000 subjective years slowly integrates with his mind. Memory of that time becomes a mist of lessons, thoughts, and deeds, and specifics, many are lost, but the attitudes and deeds and wisdom he gained remain. He remembers those. How to live, how to survive, how to fight, how to love, how to let go, how to give, how to receive.

He sleeps and forgets,and remembers, and he heals.

And, come morning, he wakes up.

When he wakes, and remembers the end of the quest, he cries, silent tears carrying poison out of him and bringing him peace.

Then, he smiles a tremulous smile at himself, and he rises. He was still shaky and would be for some time, but right now, it wasnt time to worry about that.

It was time to live.

Billy spins as he slips past Granger's guard and tags him with his sword. The man swears an oath and brings his sword back around to swing at Billy. But Billy is already away and rolling around to tag the man one his shin. This brings another oath and renewed attempts to hit Billy.

Billy breathes as he retreats for a moment, his eyes watching his opponent. The heat of the sands of the coliseum beats upward at him like another weapon, and he can feel weariness in his muscles and bones like a weight. The sun beat down and his skin was slick in some areas with sweat. A loincloth and a long gauntlet were his only coverings, aside from the sandals that protected his feet from hot sand.

It had been eight weeks since he had arrived here, tossed onto the sands of the nearby beaches like an abandoned piece of shipwood. He still had no idea who he was captive too, or why The Six had sent him here. He was supposed to be on his way to his Quest, his trial, but instead... Eight weeks of this.

Eight long weeks of fighting, slaving for these unknown overlords, playing to the cheers and boos of the faceless crowd. Eight long weeks in Hell.

Time has flown by, but each day has seemed hellishly long, driven by blood, sweat, pain, and tears. He had tried, early on, to use his magic, but the place had a barrier of some kind, something keeping everything inside, in, and everything outside, out.

Time has flown by as he learned to fight all over again with new weapons, and in new styles, and learned to fight to survive, and to defend himself.

Time has flown by as he has refused to kill, even on pain of being placed in the Punishment Box between games.

Time has flown by and even with long hours to think, he has been too tired and too focused to think about his troubles, his worries and his problems from Before. Everything before the Games, everything before the chains, has receded to a dull roar, part of the Things Not Necessary To Survive.

Time has flown by and he is still fighting on this day, his fifteenth birthday, as Granger charges, his blade ever so slightly too high. It is the mistake Billy has been waiting for. He moves, feet sure, and twists under the blade sweeping towards him, using his size and flexibility to go down and then up again, this time inside Granger's guard. His sword comes down, flat side first on the temple of the larger man and Granger half cries out, half-grunts, and falls. Billy reverses the blade and slams it down again, this time behind the man's tilted head, and his opponent slumps, unconscious.

The crowd roars in approbation, then stills as the Prelate, faceless as always, stands. He looks down at Billy and then raises his hand... and then points downward.

The crowd hushes even more for a long moment, for Billy has yet to take a life.

When his blade hits the sands with a hush, the crowd roars again, this time in fury, and there are quickly guards coming for him. He fights, as they know he will, taking out four of them, before they take him down, and make him watch as they kill Granger. Then he is surrounded and chained, and they take him towards the dark tunnel down into the rocky surface.

He knows where he is headed.

Another week in the Box.

Another week in Hell.

***

Weeks pass, time flies, and days speed away. Billy gets stronger, and tougher, and roughened. But he still does not kill.

Four months in Hell, and he is still undefeated, even against two opponents. Four months in Hell and he spends all his off time either training or in the Box. He goes willingly into the Box, now. He spends the time concentrating, meditating, and praying. What he doesn't do is think about the outside, think about the past,

Somewhere in the four months, his heart stopped aching, his mind cleared, and his body stopped feeling the after effects. Somewhere in the four months, he moved on.

Four months in Hell pass, and he is there when the attack comes, when the Justice League finds the place and frees the captives. When he sees them, at first he doesn't believe his eyes and when he does, he finds himself crying, shocked, and confused.

He cries off and on for a week, and even his fellow heroes aren't sure how to treat the man he has become.

Four months lost in Hell, and when he returns to Earth, he finds it worse off than he believed it could be. He intends to take time off, to try to take time down. This, of course, fails, as crisis and chaos spills out.

Life as usual on Earth. He dives in again and tries not to think of the past, of the trauma, of the darkness, or of Milliways.

And time passes.

Nightmares crash over Billy, filling his mind with chaos and making him cry out in his sleep.

Almost a week has passed since he ascended to his room and he has been sick most of that time. Sick and getting sicker. Fever dreams grip him and he tosses and turns.

Old memories and new reach out to grip him in their hands, hands that feel papery thin, and dry, raspy. Claws scratch and tug and hands pull, and teeth bite, and Billy screams, deep in his dreams, his fevers, his nightmares.

Visions swarm his mind...

...of Stephanie and Zuko laying so still, and so very not alive...

flit to visions of a darker version of him, filled with hate and anger, roaring triumphantly...

flit to visions of his mother and father dying in Egypt...

flit to the man who died at his hands during the crisis...

flit to darker and darker visions...

He shudders as sweat pours off of him and he cries out , murmuring, or screaming, or groaning, as hours and days fly in his dark corner of time.

And time passes...

He doesn't see the person who treats him, who cares for him and bathes him, who changes his sheets and makes sure he gets medicine and food, as much as he can keep down... He doesn't see them, but that doesn't mean they aren't real.

And eventually, as all things do, this too passes, ad he finds himself resting in clean sheets, sleeping as deep and real sleep.

And, eventually, he wakes up.

Alive, refreshed, and ready....

...for what, he could not say.

Billy grins as he settles into the comfy couch. The DvD player is ready, movies are lined up, soda provided, popcorn popped, Everything in readiness. He feels nervous as heck though. He sits and bounces a bit.

It is only a few days later, Earth time, but almost six months later, internal Rock-time, when , while walking the halls after an intense study and learning session, he sees the Door. There are many Doors in the Rock, leading via magical portals to many different dimensions and places.

Now, normally, he would not know what it is, but since beginning his studies, he has learned some magics, and the most potent of those is complete knowledge of the Rock and all it's ways and means. His senses have been sharpened and alerted to magic in every way the Book knows how. So when he sees the Door it is only a moment later that, with a shock, he knows what it is.

A Door to Milliways.

Over the next few days he tires to forget it. His position at the Rock is permanent, he is needed to hold it there, and cannot leave the rock or it will shatter and it's magic will rain down on the Earth again, causing untold misery and destruction.

He tries to put it out of his mind, but it doesn't work too well.

After several days of this, he takes a different tack, instead using all his growing powers to investigate the Door. He finds it to be permanent, a gate of some kind, and one that has been there for awhile, but just gone active. He learns how to control it and how to keep it shielded. And he learns that it is a genuine gate to Milliways.

He stares at it for long hours son end and then finally, knows he has no choice.

He has to go to the Darkcave and consult the Oracle.

***

At the doorway to the cave, he almost hesitates, almost stops, but then he grins as he gets the image in his head of the Batcave. And, grinning, he passes within.

Within, all is dark. In the center of the room, a greater darkness, the Oracle.

"ASK."

He takes a deep breath, and then he does.

***

When he exits, over an hour later, he walks out and then leans against a wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. He shivers for a long time, thinking.

He can go.

He can go!!

It will be hard, and require sacrifice, and will have limitations, but he can go and spend time away from this place!

He finds himself crying, slightly, from relief, from fear, from the utter strangeness, after six months, of knowing he will be able to be among other people.

He smiles through the tears and begins to plan.

In a small room, in a burning city, a boy cries.

Soon, he will have to get up.

Soon he will have to face the world.

Soon he will have to try to fight demons and villains and old and new enemies.

Soon.

Right now, he is lost in himself, in his sorrow and pain and fear, in his horror at what he has done.

For the first time ever, he has killed a man.

He killed a human being in the midst of a fight against demons. He knows it must have ben a trick, a man somehow switched at the last moment with the demon he knows he saw, but that doesn't change what he did.

He has never taken a life before and he always thought he could find another way. even when things seemed darkest and most violent, he found other ways, other chances. Suddenly, with no warning, everything is different. The whole world, seemingly in chaos, now is revolving around this simple idea... he killed a man.

Heroes don't kill.

It is a rule he has always known and always kept to.

It is right, and he knows it, feels it to his bones. And now he has killed a man and it feels like... he is tainted, made less, and somehow... broken. Tears haven't stopped. It seems like he has been crying for days, or longer. He isn't even sure, really, how long he has been in this room. He found it in a ruined building, somewhere high, secluded, and far from where he had been.

He did kill! But now he had. What could he do and how could he deal with something like that?

He doesn't know, and so he cries.

It is long hours later when he hears a cry for help. His tears have subsided some, mostly for lack of moisture, and he lays on his side, even after he hears the cry. After all, he isn't a hero anymore. Heroes don't kill. Someone else can save her, someone else will. In the next minute he hears something else though, something that freezes his blood.

The laughter of demons.

A surge of anger fills him. And he rises. The next instant he has spoken the word, and even as he rises on a stream of willpower, he knows the demons tricked him, he knows he has to stop them, and he knows he will.

He also knows that no matter what else the Wisdom of Solomon tells him, he will never be completely the same again. He has killed a man and that isn't going to go away.

He arrows through the night, to save a woman and to get back to doing his job. For the first time ever, he doesn't take joy in the flight. It is just part of his duty, part of his job. part of what he has to do.

He flies off towards the woman crying out. To get to work in a job that has lost it's joy.

The ground is swelling fast, and Billy is panicking. He has been falling towards Gotham for an Eternity now, and he isn't sure how long it really is, but shouldn't he have hit by now? He groans as he sees the ground coming so close now and closes his eyes again.

In the midst of his panic a voice sounds in his ear/

Remember me...

And his mind explodes with color as he concentrates and feels things slot into place.

The ground comes ever closer, and, then, at the last moment, he opens his mouth and speaks.

"Shazam."

Lightning flashes and blinds the driver of a car. There is a horrible crash and the car comes to a halt suddenly. People come to look and in the ruins of the car's engine they see a man in a red suit laying, groaning.

Above them, the skies still look red and abused, where the Rock of Eternity once stood, and there is now only destruction.

Captain Marvel opens his eyes and looks around, seeing the destruction.

Raguel was right. I failed, and everything is ruined now. What use am I?

He lays back for a moment, for a moment strangely wondering how Stephanie is doing. Did she ever get uncursed, helped? Did she still hate him? He shakes his head, tears forming. For a moment, the wisdom of Solomon is overwhelmed by the mind and heart of a boy.

But, even as he cries, he hears a cry of pain, and a cry for help, and other cries in the night...

His eyes close for a moment in absolute weariness, then he tenses and... he staggers to his feet, banishing pain and tiredness.

He casts about for someone to help them, anyone, but here isn't anyone else. He closes his eyes and then straightens and people nearby step back at the look on his face that slowly transforms into a reassuring smile. Or he hopes it is a reassuring smile. he cant tell as his face feels frozen. He leaps and then he is in the air, flying, and heading into the night towards those in need.

No time to think.

No time to mourn.

Time only to get to work and just try to survive and help others.

As Billy passes through the Door, his sense of Hellspawn fades immediately, and he almost is struck a moment later by a bolt of ethereal energy.

The Spectre is there, burning eyes looking at him from down the hallway of rock, smoldering with green energy. Billy's heart leaps with panic and fear as he remembers the ease with which Spectre had dismissed him before and the nightmarish ride through eternity.

He shivers as he summons courage and it answers from somewhere. His mind is bent on the task now and he forgets even the existence of Hellspawn as he starts towards Spectre. Everything is about who he is, what he is, what he has to do. Try, do, fight...

Billy opens his mouth to speak, and there is a wave of force that reaches out to slam into him and drops him to the stone.

He cant move, or breathe at all, and he panics, trying to do something, anything, but consciousness fades, and darkness overtakes him. He falls into dreams and nightmares, and then...

...somewhere in the darkness, there is an explosion...

...and a body falls from the sky as the Rock of Eternity explodes into fragments.