Three years.
That was how long it had been since the failed mission.
Three long years since the youngest member of the Bat family had been possessed by a demon.
Over one thousand days since the last sighting of Richard Grayson.
Any and all attempts to track him down had fallen short, the demon possessed boy seemingly vanishing into thin air whenever the Justice League thought they had a lock on his location. In fact, the only reason why they were sure he was still alive at all was the ever-growing trail of bodies.
The destruction had formed a pattern; weeks of nothing followed by a sudden and gruesome massacre, entire cities being wiped out practically in the blink of an eye, too fast for the League to react. And, by the time they arrived, the boy would be gone, leaving devastation in his wake.
City after city, the destruction spread, sewing fear into the hearts of everyday citizens.
Crimson is what they called him, after the bloodshed that followed his each and every appearance. Gradually, the name had spread, evoking fear at its mere whisper.
After all, no one knew how he picked his target cities, or where he would appear next. All they knew was that where he went, cities flooded with crimson blood, announcing where he had been like a dark stain slowly spreading across the world.
The people feared him, and rightly so.
Blüdhaven, 2:37am, November 18
Blood splattered onto the walls, crazed laughter echoing from the depths of the alleyway and out onto the street as Crimson finished playing with his latest victim. The elderly man really had not been too much of a challenge. In fact, he had approached Crimson willingly, attempting to corner the weak looking boy.
What an idiot.
He had deserved to get his head smashed in.
With a loud sigh, Crimson kicked the body. "This is boring. You were boring. Stupid smelly pervert." Shoes squelching in the puddle of blood and mess of vital organs, he turned away, fixing his gaze upon the alleyway exit.
More people were out there.
Maybe they would be more interesting.
As Crimson stepped out onto the street, he loosened his control over the body, eyes returning to their natural brilliant blue.
Dick's eyes went wide as he noticed where he was, saw the crowded street of people, most with their attention focused on him. This was not good. He could see, could think, but he could not turn away, could not leave. He knew all too well what would happen next.
It had been happening over and over again for years, and, as much as he fought it, Dick knew that it was inevitable. There was nothing he could do to stop it; all he could do was watch the carnage unfold.
A young woman stepped forward from the crowd, approaching Dick, concern written openly in her expression. "Are you alright? You're covered in blood... what happened to you? Are you hurt?" She asked, tone wavering between soothing and worried.
"She's worried... how sweet." The words slithered through his mind, as the demon forced his body to step forward, forced him to smile timidly at the woman.
She was going to die.
There was nothing that Dick could do to stop it; nothing that he had not tried before. But still, he had to try. He had to. "Please... r-run. I... it i-isn't safe." He gritted out, voice unsteady and cracking from the effort it took to control even that small part of his own body.
Of course, it was futile though.
It always was.
Red slowly flooded into his eyes, drowning out the blue even as Dick was pushed back, forced to watch the events unfolding, forced to watch his own body slaughter thousands.
The lady took a quick step back as she saw the blue bleed to red, her own eyes widening in horror. "What... what are you?"
Crimson inhaled slowly, lips twisting upward into an eerie grin. "Who? Me? Oh, I'm not anything special. Just a lover of death." The smell of fear was intoxicating, filling him with energy as shadows began swirling around his body. He giggled as the woman turned to flee, it was always more fun when they ran, a flick of the wrist sending spears of shadow into her body, impaling her in multiple places.
Another flick of the wrist was all it took for them to disintegrate, the woman falling to the ground as blood pooled around her body. He knelt down, swiping a finger across the blood and popping it into his mouth. "Mmm... yummy."
Ah.
There it was.
Fear.
The other people on the street were panicking now, their fear permeating the air, a delicious invitation for an even more delicious meal. Someone screamed, and others began to run, tripping over eachother in their haste to get away.
"Awe~ How considerate. I do love a good chase." The demon purred, rising from the ground gracefully and casually strolling after the fleeing humans, his shadows following him like loyal hounds, baying for the hunt. With a flick of the wrist, they surged forward and the screams grew to a deafening roar, blood splattering across buildings and dripping from walls.
Stepping around mangled bodies and stray limbs, Crimson let loose a bellowing laugh, the joyous sound echoing through the city as the screams slowly faded into an eerie silence. He could feel the energy rushing into the puny mortal body which he inhabited, could feel himself growing stronger. It would not be long now until he could create his own form. Of course, in order to do so, he would need to completely drain his host, but that was alright. The boy was already withering away, worn down by years of possession.
Crimson continued to laugh as he strolled through the city, shadows searching for survivors. Normally, it was the children who managed to slip through his grasp, the tiny, pitiful, creatures hiding in places where their grown counterparts could not fit.
This was arguably his favorite part of the hunt, especially since it seemed to bother his host so much. He did quite enjoy tormenting the boy whose body he lived in. It was fun.
So, as Crimson rounded a corner and spotted a young boy climbing out of a car, his maniacal laughter grew louder. It was all too perfect.
"Come here, little boy~ I wanna play~" He purred, smile sadistic as he licked his lips, tasting the child's fear. The boy turned and ran, of course he did, but it was not hard to capture him with shadows, the darkness binding the child's hands and legs, carrying him to the demon.
The boy struggled and cried, tears trailing down his cheeks as Crimson moved in closer.
"L-leave me alone, m-monster!"
"Awe~ So cute." Crimson snickered, running his finger across the boy's cheek, only to have the kid turn his face and attempt to bite him. "Hmph. Now that was not nice at all. You're going to regret that, brat." His hand closed around the child's neck, and the shadows pulled back, leaving the boy flailing helplessly as Crimson held him up and pushed him against a wall with unnatural strength.
The demon watched in amusement as the child continued to struggle, small hands pulling frantically at the one gripping his neck, his face slowly turned purple from lack of air. In amused fascination, Crimson noted that the boy's eyes seemed to bulge from his face in his final moments, veins popping out along his forehead. As the boy slowly went limp, the demon gave Dick back control over his body, retreating to watch from inside as his host was even further traumatized.
And traumatized Dick was.
He released his grip from around the boy's neck, tears springing into his eyes as he watched the small body slide to the ground, the tiny chest still, heart no longer beating.
"No. No. No." Dick whispered, dropping to his knees next to the fallen child, fingers pressing against his bruised neck to check for a heartbeat. There was not one. He started CPR, vision blurring from the tears now streaming down his cheeks. "Please. Please. Please work." He continued to talk to himself, body trembling with the effort, too weak from lack of proper care to do much now that the demon had retreated back.
He had killed this boy.
"Yes. Yes, you did kill him. You should not have tried to warn that woman. You know better." The demon hissed in his mind, the words only making Dick's tears fall faster as he continued his useless efforts to resuscitate the dead child.
The child that he had killed, one of hundreds, no, thousands, that had died at his hands.
"Please... no more. Please." He begged, already knowing that the pleas held no value.
The demon was not going to stop.
Crimson never stopped.
There was no response from his tormentor, and, after several long moments, Dick gave up on bringing the boy back, gently closing the dead child's eyes before he turned his attention onto the street behind him. It was a gruesome sight, blood coating almost every surface, dark puddles of the liquid pooling in the street, and mangled bodies scattered in every direction.
Shakily, Dick rose to his feet, the sole living person in a city once filled with thousands. Tilting his head back to gaze up at the sky, images of mutilated bodies haunting his vison, tears continuing to pour down his cheeks, Dick let out a scream of anguish before the demon once again took control and pushed him back into the dark recesses of his own mind; a mental prison where the horrors he had committed replayed over and over again, haunting his every moment.
Someone... anyone... please save me...
Crimson only chuckled darkly at the boy's mental plea, wiping his face to get rid of his host's pitiful tears. Red eyes roamed over the scene of his crime, lips pulling up into a proud smirk.
It was beautiful.
No one had stopped him here, and soon, no one would be able to stop him at all.
Soon the world would bleed crimson.