Radioactive
Rifiuto: Non Miriena
Summary: Her mother has pissed her off for the last time. Raven/Dexter.
A/N: Written 2015. Found 2018.- Licia
She was really starting to regret these visits with her mother. They wouldn't change anything anyway, she knew that, so why did she keep visiting?
Because she's your mother. And deep down, you still love her, despite all she's done.
She took a deep breath, glancing at Dexter. He took her hand, giving her a small smile and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. He was the whole reason she was coming to visit her mother in the first place. She'd sworn after the Dragon Games that she never wanted to see her mother again-
But then Dexter had proposed on graduation, and then they'd discovered their little secret, and she figured she needed to at least inform her mother of what was going on in her life.
So that was how she found herself climbing the stairs to the turret where the mirror sat; Dexter and Nevermore behind her. As they stepped into the turret room, she took a deep, worried breath, instinctively resting a hand over her abdomen. She backed up, bumping into Dexter, who rested his hands on her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. She looked up at him.
"It'll be okay, Rae."
"But what if she doesn't react well to our engagement or..." She stopped, and he could see it in her eyes. Or the baby.
Dexter squeezed her shoulders again, pressing a kiss to her head as he brushed her high ponytail out of the way. Since the Dragon Games, she'd taken to wearing her hair up, had kept the teal streaks and changed her style up- 'bohemian punk' as Dexter's sister Darling liked to call it. And since graduation, her days had been filled with plans for the wedding and a crash course in running a kingdom, because her father had decided to step down, asking Raven to take his place. With everyone's destinies now theirs to choose, Raven was hesitant. She wanted to, she really did, but would she be a good ruler? And in the mean time, she was working on writing, producing and recording her own muse-ic, as well as collaborating with Melody-
"Then she doesn't react well. I don't see how a parent couldn't be happy that their first grandchild is going to be here in seven months."
You don't know my mother. You come from a normal family. Or, relatively normal, compared to mine. She nodded; the wedding was the following week, but she'd wanted to see her mother before it, before she started to really show, and tell her of the new developments in her life, introduce her to her soon-to-be son-in-law, inform her of her first grandchild, growing at that moment. But then something hit her. "She's not like my father, Dex. Dad was thrilled when we told him about both the baby and the wedding. But Mom-"
He kissed her softly, stopping her fears from leaving her lips. "It'll be okay, Rae."
She nodded once, turning back to the mirror at the other end of the room. She could feel her powers begin to tingle in her fingertips. It had been nearly three years since she'd gained her full powers, and even now, she still had a difficult time controlling them, but only when she was highly stressed, anxious or nervous. Dexter and her friends had done all they could to keep her stress to a minimum in the last two months, especially with the wedding coming up and the baby, but still, there were times when the tingling got really bad. Only then could a walk with Dexter or a ride with Nevermore calm her down.
Instinctively, she laid a hand protectively over her abdomen as she got closer to the mirror. It's okay, little one. I won't let your... I won't let anything happen to you. I promise.
She waited for several minutes before, "Mom?"
A moment passed, before the Evil Queen appeared at the glass. "There's my little blackbird!"
She swallowed, forcing a smile. "How.. how are you doing?"
"As well as can be expected-"
"That's great. Listen, I have some news." She bowled her mother's words over, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. Her mother raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Raven took a deep breath, nervously rubbing her arm. "Well... um... you see..." She glanced back at Dexter and Nevermore, covered her stomach with her other hand, and took a deep breath. "II'm getting married, Mom, to my boyfriend, Dexter. And... and we're..." You can do this. It's one little announcement in the huge scheme of things, she might not even register it. She released the breath she'd been holding. "And we're having a baby, Dexter and I. And... and I'm going to become Queen of Marberlay."
"Queen? That's wonderful! Did you finally take over the-"
Raven narrowed her gaze.
That was what she focused on. Not the soon-to-be wedding, or the baby that would make its appearance in seven months, but the fact that her father had stepped down and she would become Queen.
Any other woman would be thrilled to find out her daughter was getting married and having a baby. This just reminded Raven of how unlike any other woman her mother was.
As her mother continued to blather on about taking over the world, she narrowed her eyes, feeling her temper rise. She could feel the tingling in her fingers getting worse; since her pregnancy had been discovered, it made her hormones out of whack, and her magic had become even more unpredictable due to the pregnancy. Something about the baby's development enhancing the mother's powers, when she'd asked Baba Yaga, but to be honest, she hadn't been paying attention.
You don't get it, do you? I've got three wonderful things happening in my life all at basically the same moment, and all you can do is focus on taking over the world. I'm getting married, I'm taking over Daddy's throne- and I'm going do my damnedest to be a good queen- and I'm having a baby with the man I love, the man I'm marrying, but do you care?
"You don't understand, Mom! This isn't about taking over the world or any such fucking nonsense like that!" The tingling because a hum, she could feel her magic growing as her agitation grew, call it pregnancy hormones or not, but either way, it was starting to overflow as her emotions reached boiling point. Her eyes began to glow, going from amethyst to a dark violet, and she could feel the purple aura that was her magic starting to envelope her and grow; bolts of lightning shot out towards the walls, burning the wood and bursting through brick. "I'm getting married! I'm having a baby! I'd have hoped that you'd be like any other mother would be and be happy for me!"
The Evil Queen watched, her eyes lighting up as her daughter's powers continued to grow, her temper rising. For the very briefest of moments, she thought her words had gotten through to her mother, for the look in her eyes. "That's it, my little blackbird! Break the mirror!"
Evidently, they hadn't.
"You don't understand! This isn't about some stupid scheme to take over the world! This is about me, for once!"
Through the haze, she could vaguely hear footsteps rushing towards her, and soon, Dexter and Nevermore stood in front of her, blocking her view of her mother. "Rae! Rae, stop! Don't do this! Think of us and the baby!"
Us and the baby.
His words seemed to penetrate her very core, and she froze, feeling the flames dance hot in her palms as she met his gaze. Nevermore shook her head, and Raven met Dexter's gaze, as she stopped, shaking her head briefly. The flames and aura disappeared, fading as her emotions returned to a normal balance- as normal as they could get for a pregnant witch- and she blinked.
Us.
She took a deep breath, gaze going down to her still flat stomach, as she laid her hands over her abdomen, where the new life growing inside her resided. The baby. She met her fiance's gaze, and he smiled softly at her.
"The baby's fine, Rae."
"How can you be sure, Dex?" She whispered, wrapping her arms protectively around her midsection, as though that would protect the life within her from being harmed by the her magic or her mother's words.
"Because I know you, Rae. You wouldn't do a thing to harm anyone, least of all harm our baby. And if you ever did, it wouldn't be intentional." He reached for her, and after a moment, she threw herself into his arms, taking a deep, calming breath as she laid her head on his shoulder before pulling away. Her gaze flitted to her mother in the mirror, and she sighed.
She'd almost let her emotions get the better of her. Almost let her magic take control, almost freed her mother and caused harm to the two most important people in her life by nearly letting her mother free. Almost.
And then Dexter's voice had broken through her rage-filled haze, and she'd been able to stop herself. Been able to think clearly; to think of Dexter, and the baby. Of her future.
She met her mother's gaze, but didn't hear a word her mother said. Her mother had pissed her off for the last time. She sighed; this was the last time she saw her mother, she'd make sure of it. No half-assed promises to herself, no late-night lies that after seeing her mother, everything would be better. She was done. She couldn't afford to see her mother again emotionally, psychologically or mentally. Her mind wandered back to the night she'd told Dexter of their growing little one, and she turned away.
No, she had other, more important things to focus on now, least of all her mother's approval or love- if that's what's it was. She herself would very soon be a mother, and she needed to make sure her focus was on her family, on this child that was forming inside her and would arrive in seven months- yes, they came first, before anyone or anything else, save their parents' wedding.
"Sorry, Mom, but we've got to go. We've got rehearsal for our wedding tonight, and... well, it wouldn't be right for the bride and groom to be late to their own wedding rehearsal." She grabbed Dexter's arm, tugging him towards the stairs. This was the last time she came to see her mother, the very last time.
"Raven." She stopped, but didn't turn around. "I love you."
She glanced at Dexter, seeing a thousand responses in his eyes, before she briefly glanced over her shoulder, her free hand moving to protect the baby growing inside her. "... I love you, too, Mom."
And then, without a second to reconsider, she tugged Dexter down the stairs, away from her mother, from her past, towards the bright new future they were destined for.