[Too slow. He's too slow. He hates this, hates not being himself. And he hates that his only way of helping at all is something toxic and caustic that he can feel eating away his insides. But it's all he's got and without his normal superspeed, he knows he doesn't have a chance here.]
[Kon gets to Kal just as the nearest dementor starts sucking out Kal's soul. Kon knows it's Kal's soul because it's a little twinkling, glowing sphere that looks just like Kon's own soul had looked when Raven showed him it.]
NO!
[After bashing one last Death Eater away with his bare hands, he leaps forward towards Kal, his hand extending. Whatever it was that let him grab onto Tim's soul kicks in again here, and he feels it tugging Kal's soul away from the monster's grasp. It turns into a game of tug of war, as he tries to fight the creature and pull it away, and it's one he starts losing because the dementors start affecting him, too.]
[The good memories start leeching away and he sees memories he's tried to bury.]
[The common room of Titans Tower exploding in scorching arcs of heatvision, as his friends are thrown around like rag dolls. Vic in pieces. The bones of Tim's arm crumbling like chalk in his hand. The horrible krraatch as he'd punched Cassie out.]
No. You can't - you can't use all that against me. I know - I know who I am. I know that wasn't me. It was him.
[A small explosive sound, crackling fire, the sizzling sound of hair burning and the smell - a smell that had put him off bacon for a while. He hears himself screaming her name.]
["Tana!"]
And you can't use that against me either. [Tears trickle down his face.] I know she'd forgive me. I know she loved me.
[What happened to him, Lex taking over him, using him as a weapon, making him hurt his friends, making him ashamed and afraid that he was just a monster, a weapon created to hurt someone he'd come to love... that was pretty much a master class in working through absolute abject despair.]
[They're good at leeching away positive feelings but stubbornness and indignant anger are apparently immune. So even with the good memories and feelings ripped out of him, the How dare they? that's left, the outrage over them trying to hurt Superman of all people, is strong enough for him to work with. Beings this foul aren't worthy of even giving a soul like Kal's a wedgie like they're doing, let alone being worthy of taking it.]
You actually think you can - you can beat me down enough I'll just let you do this to him? [He grits his teeth]. Like hell.
[They're not the only ones that can hoover life energy out of people. Kon focuses on the dementor nearest Kal's soul and breathes in, drawing in the life energy that makes the thing work. It's...foul. It's not like it was with the Wheelers, where it made him feel like he'd taken a hit of crystal meth or something. It feels like drinking poison or sucking air right out of a car exhaust. But he doesn't stop, he keeps drawing it out until the being finally falls back weakened.]
[Now that the creature is no longer tugging at it, Kon lets go of Kal's soul, dropping the hold of his power and it snaps back into Kal's body through his mouth, safe at last. Then as the other dementors press in he breathes in again, focusing on them one at a time, sucking out their life energy just like the first one. One by one they fall back, weakened, hovering closer to the ground. He lifts his hand and causes shadow tentacles to grab them, ensnaring each of them one by one, pinning them down. The effect they had on them both, the despair, it fades. With so much energy drawn away from them, the dementors have become too weak to draw away memories or good feelings from their victims.]
[But this has come at a price. Kon kneels unsteadily next to Kal, looking like he's about to collapse. The black in his eyes is refusing to fade, even though he's stopped casting spells, just like the times he went inside Melai temple. But it's worse this time. The darkness in his veins has spread out from around his eyes all over his face and down his neck. They've even spread over his bare arms. His lips have turned a pale grey that's starting to tinge with black.]
[The sparse grass on the ground around them starts withering and dying, a circular wave of death spreading out from Kon, claiming the lives of all the nearby plants. The dementors are not so much alive as unalive. They're unnatural and the life that drives them is something sick and unhealthy, borne of dark magic. It won't kill him, but it wasn't a healthy thing he drew into himself and it's going to take time for the poison to work out of his system.]
Are you - are you okay?
[He asks it despite looking very not okay himself.]
no subject
[Kon gets to Kal just as the nearest dementor starts sucking out Kal's soul. Kon knows it's Kal's soul because it's a little twinkling, glowing sphere that looks just like Kon's own soul had looked when Raven showed him it.]
NO!
[After bashing one last Death Eater away with his bare hands, he leaps forward towards Kal, his hand extending. Whatever it was that let him grab onto Tim's soul kicks in again here, and he feels it tugging Kal's soul away from the monster's grasp. It turns into a game of tug of war, as he tries to fight the creature and pull it away, and it's one he starts losing because the dementors start affecting him, too.]
[The good memories start leeching away and he sees memories he's tried to bury.]
[The common room of Titans Tower exploding in scorching arcs of heatvision, as his friends are thrown around like rag dolls. Vic in pieces. The bones of Tim's arm crumbling like chalk in his hand. The horrible krraatch as he'd punched Cassie out.]
No. You can't - you can't use all that against me. I know - I know who I am. I know that wasn't me. It was him.
[A small explosive sound, crackling fire, the sizzling sound of hair burning and the smell - a smell that had put him off bacon for a while. He hears himself screaming her name.]
["Tana!"]
And you can't use that against me either. [Tears trickle down his face.] I know she'd forgive me. I know she loved me.
[What happened to him, Lex taking over him, using him as a weapon, making him hurt his friends, making him ashamed and afraid that he was just a monster, a weapon created to hurt someone he'd come to love... that was pretty much a master class in working through absolute abject despair.]
[They're good at leeching away positive feelings but stubbornness and indignant anger are apparently immune. So even with the good memories and feelings ripped out of him, the How dare they? that's left, the outrage over them trying to hurt Superman of all people, is strong enough for him to work with. Beings this foul aren't worthy of even giving a soul like Kal's a wedgie like they're doing, let alone being worthy of taking it.]
You actually think you can - you can beat me down enough I'll just let you do this to him? [He grits his teeth]. Like hell.
[They're not the only ones that can hoover life energy out of people. Kon focuses on the dementor nearest Kal's soul and breathes in, drawing in the life energy that makes the thing work. It's...foul. It's not like it was with the Wheelers, where it made him feel like he'd taken a hit of crystal meth or something. It feels like drinking poison or sucking air right out of a car exhaust. But he doesn't stop, he keeps drawing it out until the being finally falls back weakened.]
[Now that the creature is no longer tugging at it, Kon lets go of Kal's soul, dropping the hold of his power and it snaps back into Kal's body through his mouth, safe at last. Then as the other dementors press in he breathes in again, focusing on them one at a time, sucking out their life energy just like the first one. One by one they fall back, weakened, hovering closer to the ground. He lifts his hand and causes shadow tentacles to grab them, ensnaring each of them one by one, pinning them down. The effect they had on them both, the despair, it fades. With so much energy drawn away from them, the dementors have become too weak to draw away memories or good feelings from their victims.]
[But this has come at a price. Kon kneels unsteadily next to Kal, looking like he's about to collapse. The black in his eyes is refusing to fade, even though he's stopped casting spells, just like the times he went inside Melai temple. But it's worse this time. The darkness in his veins has spread out from around his eyes all over his face and down his neck. They've even spread over his bare arms. His lips have turned a pale grey that's starting to tinge with black.]
[The sparse grass on the ground around them starts withering and dying, a circular wave of death spreading out from Kon, claiming the lives of all the nearby plants. The dementors are not so much alive as unalive. They're unnatural and the life that drives them is something sick and unhealthy, borne of dark magic. It won't kill him, but it wasn't a healthy thing he drew into himself and it's going to take time for the poison to work out of his system.]
Are you - are you okay?
[He asks it despite looking very not okay himself.]