Archive of Our Own

Monsters. What a strange and peculiar word.

What counts as a "monster"?

Monsters are what society brands those who do not fit their mold of a "person", no?

But, what happens when there are creatures simply born- no, made- to hunt? to kill? to prey?

Three sides of a triangle, equal in each length and angle; an ever turning wheel made to forever spin and destroy, crushing all who fail to skitter out of its way.

A feathered beast borne from thunder, hatched from a essence of capture light- capable of paralyzing creatures with a single strike- felled by flames.

A fanged beast borne from flames, birthed by the trembling of earth and eruptions of volcanoes- felled by water.

A scaled best borne of water, created by the surging of tsunamis and whirling hurricanes, felled by the crack of thunder.

Each designed to chase the other for all of eternity, to die and reborn, to ruin and destroy. All created for the sole purpose to hunt. To kill. To prey.

To Hunt. To Kill. To Prey.

To Hunt. To Kill. To Prey.

And yet, despite this and more, all three were tamed by the hands of a human-beast, a beast-human, one who clothes himself in darkness and fear- hissing and breathing the clouds of vengeance, striking with fear and stroking with love.

A Human who masquerades as Beast.

A Beast who masquerades as Human.

He who alone tamed the wheel that crushed and churned, calming the skies, stilling the earth, placating the seas.

He who alone humanized "Monsters" and made them his children. Gave them names, gave them hope, gave them life.

No longer were they "Beasts".

No longer were they "Monsters".

No longer were they "Horrors".

No longer were they simple bursts of nature born and made to chase the other, and in turn be chased, in a never ending cycle.

With a single stroke of love, the cycle was broken and the "Beasts", the "Monsters", the "Horrors", were allowed to just... be. No more hunting, no more killing, and no more preying upon a creature who was carved from the very same cloth.

And with the help of the human-beast, the beast-human, they, finally, were named.

The Fanged One was found First.

The ground shook beneath his paws, cracking and splitting with every step as dark, heavy smoke curled into the sky above his head. Dark fur greedily drank in the sun's unforgiving rays as he steadily tracked the path of the Feathered One, a creature with a black-blue plumage and glistening blue eyes, a creature that was made to bend beneath the pressure of the Fanged One's jaws, whose bones slotted between his teeth and shattered with the slightest pressure, whose flesh and feathers yielded to his flames and decayed with his smoke.

He could acutely feel his Brother-Target-Prey's presence despite the fact that he'd fled thousands of miles away, and he was sure his Brother-Hunter-Predator could feel the same. It was an instinct that resided deep within the three, and it remained whole and unbroken despite the eons they've spent chasing the other's tails like a demented game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, but the Fanged One had a feeling that it was all about to change.

Fire hissed from his lips as he turned his gaze to the dark-clad humans that had began to gather toward the peak of the mountain. They were tiny, especially compared to his current form, and he would gain no pleasure in crushing them. Though, if the puny little things decided to strike, then the Fanged One would possess no qualms in quashing their lives and searing even their bones into a fine dust.

When he sees no sign of aggression, the Fanged One continues to pursue his Brother-Target-Prey, just as, no doubt, the Scaled One was certainly perusing him- though he wasn't quite sure how, what with the Scaled One lacking in both legs and wings.

Days whirl by in a haze, but before long, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and thunder cracked in the distance. For a moment, the Fanged One thought the Feathered One had sought him out instead, but with the lack of his reassuring annoying chatter, the Fanged One knew it wasn't him.

But as he was about to create a cavern to hide from the rain that threatened to obliterate him, thee Fanged one mistimed the downpour, and was met with rain.

He roared in pain as the droplet carved through his smoke-woven fur and disappeared into the ground below.

His form began to shrink, minimizing the surface area available in order to buy himself some time to get the hell out of dodge.

But, it wasn't enough. The Fanged One could feel his energy slipping- and fast. Soon enough, he'd be nothing more than a distorted cloud of dispersing smoke, waiting until the next century to reform with the eruption of a major volcano. The last time he'd reform, it had caused the eruption of Vesuvius, and thereby the destruction of Pompeii.

And he wasn't even killed by the Scaled One! How embarrassing this death was. If either the Feathered One or the Scaled One found out, then he would no doubt be reduced to a laughing stock.

As the Fanged One prepared himself for darkness and nonexistence for the next few centuries, the pain... stops?

His coal-like eyes peeled open to pin against the shape that loomed over him. Dark and sturdy fabric prevented the rain from piercing through his body, and the Fanged One could not help but be reminded of his brothers' compassion. Despite the years that wore away at them, the Beasts of Sky and Sea remained hopeful compassionate.

Even when the wretched humans filled the air with their smog and poisoned the ocean with venom, the Fanged One's brothers remained frustratingly compassionate. He hadn't understood why... not until now.

As the human crouched over the Beast, shielding the creature from the water yet allowing himself to be drenched, the Fanged One finally understood.

The Feathered One was found second.

With a loud crack of thunder, he screams. Blinding light arched through the air, the scent of ozone filling the sky as flame-tipped arrows streaked through the air. Below him, puny humans rush around. A dangerous crackling sound filled the air around him, but as he stilled to prepare another strike of shattering electricity, a shower of fire-tipped arrows streaked toward him. He banked right, but at the last second, an arrow pierced through his wing.

He shrieks.

Thunder roared, shaking the air and ground as he was falling- falling- falling.

Surrounding the Beast of Sky, the humans gathered with triumphant shouts. Violent pain stabbed through his wing, the fire slowly but steadily eating away at his feathers and muscles.

"Y̶̧̥̿Ȯ̷̖̂͜Ŭ̵̳̲ ̶̮̥̄W̴̪̄̕Ḯ̶̗̩͑L̴̛͕͕Ĺ̵͇͊ ̴̧̬͂̉R̷̘̬͗͂E̷͍͓͒͗G̶̰̯͑R̵̯̝͑Ę̴͂̆Ṭ̴̤̄͝ ̸̬̌͜T̸͈͐͑ͅH̸̦̳̆̈I̸̻̦͒̒S̴̘̝̈́.̸͋͠ͅ"

The humans shrink away at the distorted words, but with a stab of pain, the effect evaporates and the humans jerk out of their stupor.

As the Beast of Sky continued to snarl and his, snapping his beak at the encroaching humans, he could not help but almost long for the thrill of the chase his fellow Monstrosities allowed him.

And as the humans draw near, wielding one of the few things capable of sending him back to the Tearing-Shifting-Changing Darkness, the Earth began to shake.

Relief flooded his senses despite the archaic fear that stirred in his chest. His Brother-Hunter-Predator was here. Around him, humans shrieked in pain and fear as one by one, the Feather One's assailants were either swallowed by the raging earth or rendered to soot by the howling blaze.

As he closed his eyes, preparing to be swallowed by the flames, a splash of ice-cold water drenched his body.

The Feathered One shrieked, eyes snapping open as the air trembled with the sound of cracking thunder. He reared back, revitalized by the water and abundance of smog. Pale blue-white electricity arced through his cloud-formed body, and he turned on the black-clad human that had dared splash him.

Anger burned in his throat, and the Feathered One screamed.

Electricity slammed down from the sky, bending to the Beast's will as he sought to kill the human.

But, rather than striking the creature with 1 billion joules, a dark shaped obstructed the strike and absorbed the energy.

"Shaker of Earth!" the Feathered One boomed in the language of brewing storms and shifting clouds, anger clawing at his chest despite facing his Brother-Hunter-Predator, who could end him in a single breath.

"Relax," the Fanged One replied with a lash of his meter-long tail, rumbling in the language of roiling flames and splitting grounds, "He saved me, and he's here to save you too."

"How can you trust a human?" his feathers bristled, electricity hissing through the air, leaping from feather to feather.

"A I said, he saved me from Dissipating," the Fanged One explained as the human slowly and hesitantly pushed through the smoke that coalesced into the Fanged One's body, "His name is Bruce."

"Jason?" the one known as "Bruce" calls hesitantly, peeling away the dark-skin to reveal dark hair and blue eyes, "Is this your brother?"

"Yes," the Fanged One- Jason?- replies in human-speak, "This is Dick."

"...Dick?" the Feathered One echoed hesitantly, "You named me Dick?"

"Is your name actually Dick?" "Bruce" questioned.

The Feathered One turned to his Brother-Hunter-Predator with a tilt of his head and a questioning rattle, "What does this "Dick" mean?"

"It's a name," "Jason" replies with a wolfish grin, "It matches you. Nod at him."

Hesitantly, the Feathered One turned toward the dark-clad human and nodded slowly.

"Oh, that's..." the man's expression turned pinched and tight, "unfortunate... But names beside the point, would you like to join us, Dick? You'll be safe, and I promise to look after you, and I'll give you the best life I can."

And who would give up such a golden and honeyed offer? Especially when it was endorsed by a creature "Dick" trusts his everything to.

Well, apparently not his name, because when he realizes what "Dick" meant?

"JASON, YOU BITCH."

And his brother only cackles as electricity struck through the living room, absorbing the energy to strengthen himself, "GET GOT, DICKFACE!"

It was only because of Alfred's influence and stern look that Jason managed to escape with his eyes in tact.

The Scaled One was found third.

The knowledge of buzzing electric gates forced him to remain within the too-small space, the claustrophobia pressing in against him as his scaled tail slapped against the smooth and clear substance.

Lately, he'd been feeling the presence of his Brother-Target-Prey grow ever closer. Perhaps the humans had managed to capture the Feathered One too? No, that would be impossible. There was little the Drakes could do to capture the Beast of Earth. They'd lost so many men capturing the Scaled One, that attempting to capture a Horror that was arguably more volatile than the leviathan was none other than a death wish.

He inhales slowly, too-fresh water pulling through his semipermeable body. Had he been a normal saltwater fish, then the Scaled One would have long since bloated beyond his natural state and died from his cells bursting from the sheer amount of water.

Thankfully- or rather, despairingly- the Scaled One had no hope of dying in such a manner. The only thing that could Dissipate him, was if, somehow, a clumsy human dropped a conveniently plugged-in toaster into the tank to electrocute him to death. That, alas, was incapable of happening because the Drakes weren't stupid, sadly, and would not allow any human to cross beyond the fence of electric gates in order to even get close to electrocuting the Scaled One.

Though, that could just be due to the fact that the last time a human got close enough to the tank, the Scaled One had rose from the depths and sank his teeth into the human's chest and dragged him into the large tank. It only took a few seconds for the human to drown, and the Beast had then ripped the body in half before sending the corpse flying into the air with a swift strike of his tail.

The Scaled One continued to swim, pacing the length of the too-small space with each stroke of his feet. Bubbles rose from his snout, and he felt his scales ripple in color and texture to match his coral-pink displeasure.

If the Fanged One was here, he would laugh at the Scaled One's predicament before splitting the ground, freeing the creature to allow the chase to continue. If the Feathered One was here, then the chances of death and destruction occurring would increase to near-certain, and the leviathan would finally be freed.

"Mister Wayne, control your child!" he hears Janet Drake snap, "He's going to get himself killed!"

"He'll be fine, Jan!" the second human crows obnoxiously, "Dick inherited his monster-taming skills from his dad- me!"

He growled lowly, numerous eyes twisting in their sockets before pinning against the creature who dared cross the electric gates. The Scaled One rose from the tank, water gleaming against his scales as he prepares to bite- only to freeze.

Before him stood the Feathered One, though not in any particular form the Scaled One was used to seeing.

"...Who are you?" the Scaled One inquired, the language of churning waves and haunting depths rolling off his tongue with an ease, "Why are you here?"

"Oh you poor thing," the not-human cooed, reaching forward to gently stroke the scales that lined the Scaled One's snout, "Why don't you Sing for me?"

The intent was clear, and the Scaled One obeys.

The air shakes with the vibrations, a soft lullaby that weaved through minds in a frequency too high for human ears, and one by one they began to drop like flies. Since they were in the presence of other humans and had no clear shot without getting "Dick" caught in the crossfire, the Drakes, too, had no choice but to succumb to the leviathan's lullaby.

"Why didn't you do this earlier?" the Scaled One's Brother-Hunter-Predator asked, "It would've been easier."

"Perhaps," the Scaled One replies, "but the Drakes had failsafes. I could not escape without Dissipating."

"..." a contemplative silence stretched between the two before the Feathered One speaks, "Can you change into a minnow? I could hide you in my pocket, and then you can come live with me and Bruce."

"..."Bruce"?" the Scaled One hums, "Who is this "Bruce"?"

"The human I came with," the Feathered One explains, "He saved me from humans, he saved Shaker of Earth from the rain, and he could save you too. What do you say, Tim?"

""Tim?"" he questions again with a confused croon, "You've given me a human name?"

"I've been thinking of one for you," his Brother-Hunter-Predator confesses, "Shaker of Earth calls himself Jason, I go by Dick, and I didn't want you to be the only one without a human name, so... I chose Tim for you."

He breaths in slowly before allowing parts of himself to dissolve into foam, fading back into the tank before settling in the Feathered One's sleeve.

"Dick" soon wakes Bruce from the lullaby's hold. The human seemed unsteady at first, but quickly sobers upon laying eyes on Tim's smallest form, a mimic of a minnow- no bigger than Dick's palms.

"Is this who you were looking for?" Bruce asked, and Dick nods eagerly. Tim huffs, but deigns not to respond as he settles himself into the Feathered One's sleeves. It was the most comfortable he'd been in months, and the Scaled One could not help but be reminded of the dark underwater caverns he'd once called home. So it was only a matter of time before Tim fell asleep.

Soon enough, his sleep was disturbed by his Brother-Target-Prey unceremoniously grabbing him from Dick's sleeves and hurling the Scaled One into a pool.

By the stars above, the only thing that kept Tim from Dissipating Jason with a blast of water was Dick's interference and Tim's thin self control.

Jason laughs at him, grinning wolfishly before blowing a plume of smoke directly into the leviathan's face.

Tim's very thin self control.