Painful Addiction Re-write! So this is only chapter one and I would love any constructive criticism. So after this chapter please let me know if I should continue or work on my writing skills more before I continue. So without further a-do let's get on with the story…
Chapter 1: Prologue
Silence. That's all Raven heard and her eyes refused to obey her commands and open. Her body felt as if she weighed a thousand pounds and she was helpless to do anything about her current situation of immobilization. Panic struck Raven.
The darkness that was just surrounded her faded away to a sea of green, and her fellow titans and friends sat in the distance. Goofing around and having a good time like they normally do on their days of. Being free. Without her.
However, the image before raven set her at ease and erased her panic.
Cyborg was in his ridiculous chef's hat standing over a Barbeque grilling some burgers while laughing at the same time. Cyborg was laughing at Beastboy's obvious misery to the meat that Cyborg was grilling.
Robin and Starfire were enjoying the early point of their relationship. Nestled under a tree Starfire sitting in Robins lap. Completely and utterly in love. Her eyes softened at the sight.
There was no pain in this situation, just peace, and the way it should be.
As Raven attempted to try and approach her friends and join in on their fun, a sharp jolt of pain appeared in her chest. It felt as if someone was smashing in her chest. Raven sank to her knees just feet away from her friends, the pain and agony written in her face very clearly. All the while he friends seemed completely oblivious to her pain. When she tired crying out no sound came out.
"HELP!" Raven tried to yell as the pain struck her harder. No attention was given to her.
"CYBORG! STARFIRE! BEASTBOY" Raven yelled in silent words once again wincing, and once again she was unheard. It seemed that they couldn't hear her. Raven ceased in her yelling attempts to cough, blood started spurting from her as another spasm of pain hit her.
The image of her friends seemed to fade away in the distance while she was left to her own misery.
"ROBIN HEP ME!" was the last thing Raven screamed before they disappeared all together.
"Don't leave me alone." Raven whispered, the tears starting to leak in her eyes. The physical pain at this moment was nothing compared to the emotion pain of abandonment provided for her. She didn't want to be left alone.
As she sobbed the grass started to die beneath her. Everyone she cared for, she destroyed every living thing she was around. She was alone.
"THEY NEVER CARED FOR YOU MY PRECIOUS GEM" Came the booming voice of her father from no particular place. Fear penetrated her heart as she slowly lifted her head, her face still damp with tears.
"No, please no" Raven begged
"YOU ARE DAMNED TO BE AN OUTCAST; YOU ARE A MONSTER LIKE ME." Trigon sneered at her.
"No! You are wrong. I am cared for and loved." Raven said the words as if to convince herself of the statement.
"If so, where are your friends now?" his voice although a whisper was still full of power. Then the truth behind his words rang clearly through her mind. They left her here. She was alone. That is what she feared most. Being the monster she was presumed to be. Nobody would come to her rescue.
"NO!" Raven yelled with more power behind her voice. "I am not a monster, I am not a Monster." She repeated the words over and over again. Not as a statement of the face, but almost as if she was trying to convince herself of the statement.
But it was no use. She had been denied most of her life, what was to stop that for happening again? Fear was consuming Raven alive as she tried to pull herself together. I did not matter if she had no one, she would not let her father win. Still Shaking Raven stood on unbalanced legs, trying to run away from her father.
"DO NOT DARE RUN FROM ME CHILD. YOU ARE A DEMON. YOU HAVE DEMON BLOOD WITHIN YOU!" He smirked as he said each and every word.
"I PRESUME THE MONKS ON AZARATH TAUGHT YOU WHAT HAPPENES WHEN YOU DON'T OBEY!" He boomed with a wicked grin.
Ravens face paled. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Holy water was created to ward off the damned as a means of protection. Yet the monks of Azarath used it to discipline her when she was disobedient. She still had the scars to prove it.
Panic overcame her once again as she remembered the slow painful trickling drops on her skin. Thankful that her mother convinced the Monks to not pour it on her in massive doses.
But still the memories of pain were deep.
A loud crack of thunder sounded through the sky, flashing in a ghostly manner. It started to drizzle, light drops of what appeared to be rain. When the first drop landed on Ravens skin she hissed in pain. Holy Water. It was raining… Holy water.
The rain as now coming down as a downpour. Burning every inch of skin on her body while she cried out in agony. Her Bastard of a father just loomed over her clearly enjoying her misery. Like there was no end.
"SAY YOU'LL JOIN ME DAUGHTER AND THE PAIN WILL BE NO MORE!" he bellowed.
Through cracked, burnt lips she barely managed to say, "I will never…. Join you. I would rather be beheaded." This was all just a dream her father was dead. He could not hurt her. None of this was real. So why was she allowing him to hurt her?
"You have no power over me!" She yelled out the sentence and on the last word dark magic erupted from all parts of her body. She let out an ear splitting scream as everything faded away from her.
Everything went black.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Raven awoke from her bed in a cold sweat; the panic had not completely left her system. Her breathing came out in heavy pants. Despite the heat in the room she was shivering uncontrollably.
"Just a nightmare." Raven sighed to herself. She stood up from her bed in a rush and went to the bathroom, flicking the lights on all in one shot. Raven placed both hands on either side of the sink and leaned heavily against it, her forehead resting on the mirror in front of her. Damn it. My breathing still isn't controlled yet. Raven was furious with herself at the moment; she never allowed her dreams to get her this riled up.
Raven slowly lifted her head up to look at her reflection in the mirror and gasped. She looked terrible. Her usual milky pale skin looked sweaty and almost translucent. Her hair was matted to her forehead and at the base of her neck with sweat. Worst of all she was shivering uncontrollably, her eyes wide with fear.
This wasn't the first time she had a dream like this, in fact. She has had dreams like this all her life. Never before has she been tortured in her dreams and when she woke up still felt lingering pain. It was weird. There were no marks on her flawless skin (thanks to her fantastic healing abilities), but she still felt a burning sensation her skin as if it was still raining holy water.
Raven turned on the shower to a cool temperature, hoping it would help the burning in her skin. When she stopped in the spray of the shower she gasped in pain. The cool water helped to an extent, her skin felt raw under the cool water. Raven stood directly under the water and braced her hands on the wall of the shower. She gritted her teeth in endurance to the pain, until it dulled to a lesser pain.
After, she scrubbed her skin carefully. The soap brought on a whole new bout of pain, stinging her all over. Raven wrapped a towel around her body tightly and dressed in a new leotard. Instead of laying back down as it was the middle of the night, she sat very stiffly on thee edge of her bed to try and make sense of all of this. Her mind raced trying to find a connection or any possibilities.
This was not supposed to be happening. Raven had gotten tortured in previous dreams even worse than the current one. But the pain always subsided as soon as she woke up. There was no lingering traced of torture, the memories were the only thing she kept from the dream. Sometimes those faded away too.
None of this made any sense though, Trigon had long been defeated. He shouldn't have this type of power over raven. Worry plagued her mind as she feared the worse to come. Unintentional tears escaped from Raven's eyes as she thought of the pain and suffering her friends had gone through to save her from her father's last rising.
Although Raven was grateful for their help and knew if her father arose again they would be there for her, she refused to put them through that. Raven learned over her years on Earth that you don't put the people you love through unnecessary pain. No matter what the consequences she was willing to keep her friends out of this conflict. It wasn't as if Raven was powerless.
After defeating trigon Ravens powers blossomed beautifully. With each passing day she grew stronger and developed new techniques. She could now stop time at will, speak into people's minds, and even gained some of her father's powers. Despite the fact that she had grown stronger she never felt a need to show her true abilities to anyone.
With her newfound power, the villains in Jump City didn't feel like a threat to her.
Even though Raven had new abilities she had her doubts. The thoughts raced through her mind in the worst cases. What if my powers alone aren't strong enough to defeat him? What if I take him on all on my own and he kills me! He'll go after my friends and they can't take him without me. What if he ki-
No.
That wasn't going to happen though. Trigon was dead. He wasn't coming back.
Raven scolded herself, trying to convince herself that he wasn't going to return. But in the deepest pit, in the back of her mind, she knew there was always a possibility. There was that slight chance that he could still be alive. No matter how rare it was, it still terrified her that he might come back to claim his gem.
I'm not too sure of what was going to happen, but I'm sure of one thing; if my really is coming back, I will end him for good. Because I will be damned if anyone tries to take my family away from me again. She loved them far too much, and she would fight for them. Even if it cost her, her own life.
The room suddenly turned bright red and the alarms were blaring. Raven Sighed, "These mediocre villains don't know when to quit do they?" Raven disappeared in a flash to the main room of the titan's tower.
When she got there the look on robins face told her everything she needed to know. A perminant frown was etched into his face, his eyebrows pushed down in anger. There was only one man that causes such a look of hate on his face.
But the titans hadn't heard from him years. Raven mentally groaned. This was not a good sign.
*** To Be Continued***
Okay so I want reviews from the readers to tell me what you guys think about the first chapter. Sorry if it's kind of short and if it has any errors. I don't have a beta yet. Hey if any of you guys are up for the job just send me a message *Bats Eyelashes* Thank you guys. LEAVE A COMMENT!