SHH: Raven Lynn Morrigan wanted the explanation for this story edited. She was literally delirious from the amount of pain she was in when she came up with this. She doesn't like episode rewrites (she abhors them actually) and this was something that she never would have finished. When she realized what she was writing out she was going to trash it-like so many other good ideas for stories she has had over the years. I liked this and wanted to finish it since she wasn't going to. So after much begging and pleading she gave me the notes. When she wrote the note that was originally posted on here from her she was in the hospital pumped full of pain killers. She found this online the other day and didn't like what she had written and she wanted how the story came to be set straight.
The Girl in the Magical Mask
She had once been a somewhat normal girl with a home, friends-more like a highly dysfunctional family really. Now her home along with the rest of the world have been destroyed. Her friends now turned to stone like everyone else. Tears fall from her indigo eyes-the only part of her face visible with the power blocking mask sealed magically to her face by the backstabbing dragon's powerful spells. She looks around at her frozen friends around her. Her betrothed's cruel idea of company for the eternity she's forced to spend chained in this underworld-kept there without the use of her powers so she can't rise up against her father. Unable to turn away from the circle of stone beings around her-she draws her knees up to her chest and hides her masked face in her arms. This is all her fault she thinks-if only she hadn't been so stupid and selfish-she might have seen the talking book for the monster that it really was. She plays it over and over in her mind-as to how she missed the only chance she had to fix things. Just maybe if she hadn't warned him...
...Malchior isn't about to let Raven imprison him in that book again. Before she can chant the curse which bound him in the book so long-he counters with one of his own. "Iness eace ove iends." His curse seals the sorceress' mouth with a green glow of energy before she can speak. He quickly lashes out at her with his claws-sending her crashing down to the rooftop below. Before her friends can recover he swoops down out of the sky-picking up both the girl and the book in his sharp talons. He then flies away-disappearing into a magical portal in the sky.
Raven awakens to the pain in her chest as she breathes in and out. Her white leotard and cloak are stained red with her own blood. Before she can focus her healing powers she is dropped roughly onto a cold stone floor. She looks up as the dragon looms over her.
"I really must thank you my dear Raven. You have no idea what it is like to trapped inside a book for hundreds of years.
Raven looks up fearfully toward the book that is still clutched in his talons. She tries to summon her powers to protect herself-only to be struck so hard that she flies back against the stone wall.
"I could bestow the same fate upon you my dear-but I do believe I will keep you around. Those pesky powers of yours have to go of course." He stares at the girl as she tries to get up. He focuses on the gem stone on her forehead-realizing what he needs to do. Before she can come to her senses he chants another spell. "Ust ousness ace isdom ustice."
This time a green glow covers the gem stone on Raven's forehead-but it doesn't stop there. It spreads all across her face-leaving only her eyes visible. She cries out as she realizes what is happening-but there is nothing she can do to counter it. The magical mask becomes solid-bonding to her face. Raven struggles to pull it off-even though she knows its useless.
Malchior reaches out with his tail and grabs Raven-pulling her up to eye level. "That should keep from causing trouble my dear."
She tries to shout angrily at the dragon-only to have a muffled garbling of language escape the mask that also seals her lips. Raven gasps from the sudden sensation of heat that erupts in her chest.
"There now...can't allow you to bleed to death now can I?"
Raven clutches her chest as he roughly deposits her back on the floor. She breaths heavily until the burning sensation goes away. She looks down at the torn cloth of her leotard to find that her wounds are now healed. She turns her attention back to the mask which confirms to each tiny contour of her face. It seems solid-but still allows her to breath normally. Along with silencing her-it magically binds the gemstone that allows her to focus her powers-preventing their use.
"My fair Raven, I do believe that is demon blood that I smell in your veins. Get used to your new home. It looks like you will be here for an eternity."
Angered at the situation Raven gets up and rushes toward the dragon, ready to strike out at him.
The dragon quickly chants another spell. "Rmony oodill augh."
Chains form around Raven's wrists that attach to the floor, stopping her where she stands. She screams in frustration which only comes out as muffled moans.
"When you learn to control yourself, my dear, you may have the run of this place. Somehow I get the feeling that with you it may take several hundred years. Now if you will excuse me-I have some revenge to enact upon a certain sorcerer...or descendants thereof." *1
As the dragon leaves, Raven collapses to her knees-sobbing. She can only blame herself for this mess-by falling for the dragon's tricks. She should have known better-but the deep longing to be understood-accepted-even loved had made her forget everything else. Raven pulls on her chains in desperation, but they hold her fast. She has only enough slack to stand up with her arms pulled down at her sides. Even more tears flow from her eyes-as the thought that she really could be immortal and stuck here for eternity-only now strikes her. She finds herself longing for the friends which she always tired to push away. For a brief moment Raven sees some ray of hope in the situation-as prisoner of the dragon for eternity-the prophecy of her birth might never be carried out.
Far from the cave that is Malchior's lair. Is the tower of the European Titans. Argent awakens suddenly from the dream of a sorcerer trapping an evil dragon within a book.
The whispered voice of the sorcerer in the dream seems to echo within the room. "The dragon has been set free. You must stop him."
The titans all stand around the bloody spot on the roof where Raven fell before the dragon took her away. Amid the blood are the shattered remains of her communicator.
Cyborg looks around at the others. "There is no way to track Raven without her communicator."
"We must not give up hope."
"We won't Starfire." Robin turns away from the others to face the rapidly setting sun. "We will find her somehow."
Beast Boy grudgingly speaks up. "I know I'm going to hate myself for this later...but I have an idea."
Cyborg looks Beast Boy wide-eyed. "Oh no-not that!"
A figure lurking in the shadows of the setting sun disappears down into Raven's room. From the dresser her picks up the ornate gem studded mirror. "You shall not interfere Titans." With a wave of his hands all the magical tomes left behind by the dragon flash into white hot flame-leaving nothing but ashes behind. He disappears as the Titans reach the room. The escaped dragon-has just made his job that much easier and time on Earth that much shorter. He reappears in the dragon's lair. He just stands there a few moments watching the chained demi-demon. "The dragon cannot save you from what is to come Raven."
Raven sits up straight at the sound of the villain's voice. It can't be she thinks-they saw him die in that cave when Terra unleashed the volcano.
"I am very much alive Raven-like you I cannot die...and now that we're alone lets get this over with shall we?" *2
She gets up turning as around as much as the chains allow to see Slade standing there. A muffled attempt at speaking his name escapes her.
"Nice mask...its going to make this so much easier." He holds up the mirror. "Oh, I almost forgot. Your com was destroyed leaving only one way for your friends to track you."
Raven's muffled cries ring out as Slade tosses the mirror over the edge of the outcropping of rock she is chained to.
"Oh come now Raven, with that mask you don't need to keep all those emotions bottled up anymore. It is time to experience what you have denied yourself for so long.
She collapses to her knees as grabbing her head as she cries out when the mirror strikes a rock-shattering.
"Are you afraid now?"
Raven frantically tries to pull away as Slade approaches her, but she is held fast by the chains.
"Now that I don't have to bother prying you away from your friends, I have a message for you."
Raven screams as Slade grabs her upper arms and pulls her up from the ground. Her cloak flutters to the ground as her legs dangle in the air as much as the chains allow.
Slade's fire powers burn away much of her clothes leaving little more than her bra and panties.
The titans search frantically around Raven's room, but are unable to find the mirror that she uses for meditation. Beast Boy looks under the bed, only to come up empty handed. "It has to be here some where."
Cyborg looks up from the bookshelf. "Maybe she hid it to keep you from messing with it again." He continues checking for a fake book that the mirror might be hidden inside.
"Perhaps the evil dragon took it." Starfire closes the dresser drawers after a through search.
Robin stops after checking the closet to inspect the layer of dust on the floor. He can't believe that Raven would never clean her room. As he kneels down he realizes that it is a layer of ash. "Or destroyed it, along with lots of other things that he didn't want us to find."
Beast Boy looks down at the floor. "There were stacks of books to the ceiling almost filling up the room."
"So everything that might lead us to where he took Raven was destroyed...then how can we find her?" Cyborg puts back the last of the books on the shelf.
Robin looks up at Beast Boy. "Can you remember anything that he said that might give us a clue?"
"He was trapped in the book for a really long time." Beast Boy scratches his head as he tries to remember more. "He mostly taught her magic."
"Did he say where he was from? Or who it was that trapped him within the book?"
Beast Boy looks over at Starfire. "It was some guy named Rorek, I think. He talked with a British accent if that helps."
"Then lets contact the European Titans."
Everyone watches Robin and he turns and leaves the room.
Argent leaves the tower and her teammates behind as she searches for the dragon she was warned about in her dream. "Null." At just the thought of the long lost city she suddenly finds herself there. *3
"Come to stop me have you?"
She turns to face the dragon.
"You will have to do better than your ancestor."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Your ancestor trapped me in his magical book. If I cannot take revenge on him, then I will settle for you." Malchior quickly launches an attack at the teen girl.
Raven trembles as she lays on the floor. The glowing symbols burn with a fire that she is sure could only be rivaled by the flaming pits of hell.
"I suppose you must be wondering why I am helping your father." He watches her for a few moments before he continues. "Being a lackey for the most powerful immortal around has its perks. Do you want to know my favorite part?" He kneels down grabs Raven roughly by the chin, forcing her to look at him. "I personally get to see to it that you never can never cause your father any trouble. I get to do whatever I see fit to keep you in line."
She looks at him wide-eyed as she realizes just what the villain is insinuating.
"That's right. You belong to me now Raven."
Raven tries to pull away from Slade, but can only get so far because of her chains.
Slade looks up as the cave begins to shake. "Right on time. Do excuse me, I have other matters to attend to at present."
She watches as Slade walks over to the book that Malchior was trapped in and pick it up. Raven shields her head with her hands as rocks crash down from the ceiling. When the dust clears she can see Malchior facing off against someone familiar. She quickly realizes that it is Argent. She tries to cry out-to some way warn them both that Slade is here.
Malchior whips his tail around and strikes Raven to shut her up.
Raven is winded from the blow as she is knocked to the ground. She can only watch as the scene plays out before her.
"Impressive powers witch, but you are no match for me." Being occupied with enacting his revenge, Malchior fails to notice Slade who lurks in the shadows.
Slade holds the book open and points it toward the dragon. "Alderon enlenthronell vosolon lyris nore."
The dragon realizes too late that Raven was trying to alert him to danger. He tries to take flight but is caught up in the books pull. If he again has to suffer ages trapped within the book-this time he won't be alone. He reaches out to grab Raven.
Argent looks over to see the dragon reaching out toward a chinned girl. Her face is hidden by some sort of mask, yet she still recognizes her. "Raven!" She rushes over to her fellow titan-blocking the dragon's attempt to grab Raven.
Before he is pulled into the book, Malchior grabs onto Argent pulling her in with him.
Raven screams as Slade closes the book.
He looks down at the book in his hand as he approaches Raven. "Perhaps I should have thanked him for trapping you first."
She cries out as Slade ignites the book with a fire so intense that it soon becomes ash. "Save your strength, you're going to need it when your father makes his entrance into this world." He lets the ash fall from his hand. "Unless you wish your friends to suffer the same fate, then you had better hope they never find you."
She looks up at the sounds of footsteps-which draw her back into the present. She looks around at all the statues that were once her friends. She is sure they all hate her. Surely, she reasons they must think she deserves what is about to come.
"Hello Raven. It has been awhile hasn't it?"
Raven just bows head as her silent tears fall to the cold stone ground.
SHH: I felt it worth mentioning that Rae is a history buff. That is where the title came from. It's an illusion to "The Man in the Iron Mask." She was watching something about the real life masked man she taped from the history channel before she got so sick several nights ago (it took a little while to finish this up.) I left Rae's dashes that are her excuse for grammar in the parts that she wrote out in her notes. The stuff I added for the most part I did it right. I don't claim it to be perfect because I'm not. Since I had to type this up, I tried to make the writing styles as seamless as possible so it didn't seem as though you were picking up disjointed thoughts from two different authors. Most of this takes place in a flashback and I decided for it to just cover roughly one day when it was turned over to me. It is about a character and one mistake that changes everything. There will not be any further chapters.
*1 SHH: Rae originally had the descendant line when Malchior left to take his revenge, but she crossed it out of her notes because she couldn't figure out one so she brought back Rorek. I decided too much time had passed for that so I went with the descendant thing and decided that could be Argent. I liked her character and felt she was under-used in the series.
*2 SHH: I don't know the full details on this. Rae is resting right now and I don't want to wake her just to clarify where this idea came from. I know that I have heard her talk about this issue before with her other editor. It somehow ties in with the original comics is all I can tell you at this point. If you want the full story on that then for now just search for his profile and send him a PM. Trust me he will be more than happy to explain stuff like that. (iq battle winner)
*3 SHH: Argent never had that big of a part in the series so I don't know exactly what her powers are. It wasn't actually Rorek that warned her in a dream about Malchior. It was the dragon that was calling the sorcerer or any descendants thereof. Then again it could have somehow been Slade's doing so he can get the dragon that might interfere with Raven's destiny out of the way.