WE'RE BACK!
With the second to last story in the first arc in the Titans Knight series.
This one is going to be one Hell of a ride, filled with Drama, Action, Romance, Heartache, you name it! It's in here
BIG thank you to all my buddies on this site who have been an inspiration and a huge help in writing these stories. I'm happy to say that the list keeps getting longer and longer. You guys make it all possible. A-LionGleek, Adrinsane, ZadArchie, Foamsatmouth, Golem XIV QueenXCaramel, CSGT, Auroa Nightstar, LostDemonessRaven, PurpleCat5817. and Allen Blaster who is here in spirit. Love you and all those that follow and fav! It's all done for you guys!
As always. Read Review and enjoy.
I don't own Teen Titans . . . darn . . .
On with the show!
Chapter 1: Origin
Over two thousand years ago
Her hair was as black as the blackest night, hanging down to her lower back, her skin light and fair as if she was a perfectly crafted porcelain doll. Her eyes dark and mysterious, but her smile gave her a playful nature with a voice and a laugh fashioned from the heavens. She was the perfect mixture of her mother and father, her father being a local Englishman and her mother hailing from the Orient. She was such a wonder in her local village, being labeled "exotic", or a "porcelain treasure". She was the pride and joy of her humble parents.
Of course this was six years ago. Now it was just her papa and herself, whom her parents affectionately named, Raven, for her jet black hair.
The young girl was quietly playing with the dolls, that her her papa made himself, by an old tree stump just outside of the small cottage she shared with her papa. She hummed peacefully to herself until the crunching and shuffling of the leaves and loose branches caught her attention. Looking to the north of her home she could just barely make out the silhouette of her father through the trees as he returned from the local village for supplies. She smiled, a smile that could shine through even the darkest forest, and ran to her father as she always did when he came back from a trip, her long white dress snagging slightly on the vegetation below, but as she scampered closer, she could see something was wrong.
She stopped her running, just as he emerged from the trees, he tried to smile at his daughter, but she already saw he was distressed.
"Papa what is wrong." She asked looking up at him with beautiful worried eyes.
He knelt down scooping his daughter up into his arms speed walking the rest of the way to their home.
"Raven darling we are going to play a game." Normally the smooth English accent of her father was comforting to the young girl, but his uneasiness was evident in his tone, making her frightened. He walked into his small home heading towards a nearby trunk by the bed and placed his daughter inside. "I need you to be as quiet as you can be ok darling? Just like when we're at church."
His daughter was still very frightened, but did as she was told. He closed the lid on his child saying a silent prayer that she would be safe then slid the trunk with his child inside under the bed, then he heard the horses. He composed himself as best as he could, then met the men who had been asking about the young black haired girl around town. He had seen them before, they would come from the east on large ships to the poorer towns plundering and pillaging then selling what the stole to the richer neighboring kingdoms. England, Arendalle, London, Weaselton to name a few, and only recently entered the market of kidnapping and selling people.
Now they had come for his child.
He met the horsemen on the edge of his home, instantly he grew nervous at the mammoth stature of the men, long dirty brown beards, disgusting skin, fingernails, eyes and teeth. Each of them a carbon copy of the leader who approached the homeowner as he got down from his horse. He knew this was the leader with the missing right eye and scars across his face. Clearly he had been through a lot, and his battle scars attested to his feats, easily making him the alpha.
The pirate stared down at the Englishman. "You Landon?" His voice gruff and menacing, but the one called Landon kept his cool composure.
"Aye," he responded calmly, "may I help you gentlemen?" Landon could see out of the corner of his eye the others begin circling his home.
The scared man approached, Landon recoiling from his god awful smell. "Word around town is that you got yourself a little oriental girl hidden here?"
Landon's mood went from revulsion to rage as the way this neanderthal spoke about his daughter, but again he attempted to remain calm. "You were mislead my friend, she died with her mother six years ago." He was so calm you couldn't tell he was misleading him, but the scared behemoth, who had dealt with many kinds of people, and killed many more, knew he was lying.
"Is that right? Then-uh-what's that?" He motioned to the stomp were Ravens dolls were strewn about from this morning. Then Landon made a fatal mistake. His jaw tightened. "Search the place boys!"
Landon leapt at the hulking man, not sure what it was going to accomplish, and was met with a giant hairy fist into his stomach that dropped him to the ground gasping for air. The next few minutes were a blur as two more men lifted Landon to his feet as the one-eyed thief began pummeling the Englishman mercilessly, and didn't stop until someone announced, "GOT 'ER!"
Even through his blood filled eyes, and the pounding of blood in his ears, he could see his little girl thrashing against one of the men, screaming at the top of her lungs for her papa.
"Please," he gurgled from the blood in his throat, "don't take her, she's all I have left."
The men laugh at his at his pathetic pleading, but the scared man put on a mock pouting expression.
"Tell you what. Since I am a man of incredible generosity and compassion I'll make you a deal. I have a buyer in Weaselton who is paying me 3000 gold pieces for this little treasure. If you can top that by weeks end, you get to keep her."
Landon stared in disbelief. "Where am I supposed to get that much money?!"
"Don't know, don't care," the smug pirate shrugged, "meet us at the docks in one week with the gold by mid-day, or you never see her again. Savvy?" Landon, unable to say or do much else, hung his head accepting the terms. The pirate chuckled then motioned for the two men restraining Landon to continue his beating.
The last thing Landon heard before slipping into unconsciousness were the cries of his daughter begging her papa to come save her.
Present day. Cemetery outside of England
Grief. Pain. Sorrow. Sadness. Anger. Fury. Joy. Fear. Happiness. These were the feelings that would flow through a normal HUMAN person, but for someone reborn in the fires of hell, it was not possible. To Landon, they were nothing more then words that would pound at the empty space where a heart was supposed to be begging for entrance. With a blank expression he stared down at the whethered rock with the faded name. It was just a rock. A rock that was sitting on top of a wooden box that was six feet underground filled with bones. Yet at one point in his life, those bones . . . meant something to him. Right? Those bones would laugh, and dance, and sing . . . and the bones loved him? Right? Each year on the anniversary of her birth he would come back to this rock, looking at the faded name and attempt to remember a time when those words, meant something to him. A time when he wasn't . . . hollow.
Standing behind him were the two people in this world that he considered . . . friends, or were they family? The red headed witch of Azarath named Malundra, and the dragon knight, Drake Daniels. Why were they here? They didn't know these bones? Ah yes they were there because they . . . cared about the hollow . . . thing. Man was to generous a term for the creature of hell.
The red headed witch, Malundra, knelt down in front of the rock and with a wave of her hands began to tidy it up. The grass was trimmed, the stone was polished and shined, the engravings were redone, and lastly a small wreath of flowers appeared at the base of the stone underneath the name. What were those for? The bones weren't going to see them, and they would be dead in a months time, maybe less since they were created by magic. What was the point? Malundra stood back up allowing Landon to look over her work.
"Thank you." He said quietly. Malundra wrapped her arms around his neck while they kissed each other on the cheek, then she left him be.
Landon didn't break his gaze away from the now prettier rock, but he knew the knight was right behind him. Why was he here? Didn't he now have someone in his life to spend time with? Why were they friends? After what the hollow creature did to him, after what other hollow creatures did to his people? Was it . . . forgiveness?
"We're not going to have to hug now are we?" the hollow creature asked.
"Dear god I hope not." Drake laughed.
"Good. Besides your arms are busy with someone else these days." Landon smirked.
Drake smiled thinking of his girlfriend, Kole who was eagerly waiting for him to return. "I'm a lucky guy." He really was. He could enjoy the warmth of a women's flesh on his hands, on his lips, but more importantly he could feel the anxiety of wanting to please her, the fear for her safety, the love in his heart for a beautiful creation this world had to offer.
Drake turned away from the demon, giving him a pat on his shoulder. Something those that care about each other did, and walked to the red headed witch. "Can you take me back to Titans Tower please?" he asked.
She smiled. "Sure." With a wave of her hand she created a portal that would take them both back to Jump City. They glanced back at the demon king before stepping through the portal, leaving Landon alone with his thoughts and a cleaned of rock.
The empty hellion wasn't sure how much longer he remained standing in front of the stone, rubbing the tips of his fingers against the engravings that spelled out a name. The name of the bones. He kissed the tips of his fingers placing them on the top of the rock. Why was he doing this? Was it symbolic of kissing the bones? But they would never kiss back? But then again this was all he had left of her. A simple stone and a name.
Raven. Beloved Daughter.
Landon glanced at the other rock. That one had no bones underneath it, no flowers, and no one standing over it wishing they could feel something for the simple rock.
Landon
It took mere moments for Landon to teleport himself from the gravesite in England to the king suite in Jump City, unlike Drake he didn't have a problem teleporting. He glanced around his hotel room, taking notice of the large man at the front door who was currently being possessed by one of Landon's minions. Landon gazed uninterestingly at his underling then turned to the closed doors of the bedroom speaking back to the possessed man.
"No disruptions tonight." he said evenly.
His minion gulped. "I understand your majesty, but I must inform-"
Landon turned his head glaring at his guard over his shoulder menacingly, his dark eyes trickling with red. "I said NO disruptions." Landon vanished behind the closed doors of the bedroom, leaving behind a minion who was praying Landon was in a forgiving mood this evening, considering what was waiting for him on the other side of those doors.
The first thing Landon did once he entered the dark room was relieve himself of the suit, and shoes he was wearing. He was to preoccupied with the thoughts of the night ahead of him, which he planned on spending it with a bottle of scotch, that he didn't even notice that he wasn't alone. It wasn't until he heard the soft sound of someone clearing their throat that he was aware of the other presence in the room. He looked towards the bed, but conveyed no surprise in his expression. Besides it wasn't unusual for some of his subjects to try and brighten his spirits on this day, even if they were met with an untimely death for defying his orders of "no disruptions". This time however it had nothing to do with his minions trying to earn brownie points.
Blackfire of Tameran was laying on the king sized bed dressed in a small grey robe, her bare leg crossed over the other, her dazzling purple gaze sweeping the demon king hungrily. Her lip curled in a seductive and inviting smirk. The young women, though alluring, held no interest to the demon king, and his expression said as such.
"What are you doing?" he asked plainly.
Blackfire giggled wipping her black hair over her other shoulder. "Word is, this day is quite lonely and upsetting for you," She manuvered herself so that she was on her knees with some distance between them, "and I wanted to cheer you up." She spoke in a soft sultry tone, tracing her finger over her collar bone slipping the shoulder of the grey robe off of her bare flesh. Landon approached the bed as she leapord crawled closer to him, her predatory stare not once leaving the king of hellions.
"And what, pray tell, makes you think I am in the mood for your . . . version of 'cheering up'?"
Blackfire shrugged, not once losing her bedroom eyes, or seductive smile. "What can I say," she leaned forward closing her shoulders close together making sure Landon was staring at her comely tanned breasts, "I have my ways." She pulled herself up scooting closer to him then wrapped her arms around his neck. "I owe you after all for finding me, and bringing me back to earth with a purpose."
Landon smirked. "Technically it was my associate, the "Main Man" that found you for me."
She shrugged, slipping more of her robe off in the process. "Still. You saught ME out, you wanted ME to be on your little team," she leaned towards his ear whispering, "and for that I want to thank you." She began nibbling then kissing his ear, her hot breath bathing his ear that would have sent a shiver down his spine. Then she began biting at his neck.
If there was one thing demons could feel, it was a need for dominance and power. And, desire.
Landon grabbed the back of her hair pulling her head off of his neck and up to stare at the ceiling, then he began biting at her neck causing her to let out a surprised and pleased gasp. Once he was done with her neck, he released his grip on her hair and began an assualt on her lips. In the midst of their tongues fighting for dominance in the others mouth, Blackfire began ripping off the shirt he wore, not caring about the buttons that went flying in different directions. He in turn ripped the skimpy robe off of her fit and trim warrior body. He threw her onto the bed, Blackfire letting out another please gasp, allowing Landon a good look at her alien physique. The delicious look of her curves, her soft skin, the body of a warrior, and her alluring eyes made him rabid for more.
He pounced on top of her, her hands running through his hair, gripping and pulling as their tongues met again, her pelvis pushing and grinding against his own. Landon pinned her wrists at her side and began nipping at her neck again, promoting a moan to escape the aliens lips. Then she felt his teeth become sharper as they scraped against her skin, but it didn't cause her any pain, instead it excited her all the more. Pulling his face up to look at her again, she could see his flesh turning a slight shade of red, and his eyes the color of blood. Once again she had no fear, only excitment and desire.
Something Landon could work with.
One month later.
"It was a dark and scary night . . . much like THIS one. My parents, Cryptozoologists, were in seach of the deadly Chupacabra in the deepest darkest corner of Africa. While I stayed behind at our campsite. Alone and defenseless, but NEVER afraid. Suddenly . . . somthing spooked the horses. I went to investigate, and it was at this time that I was attacked by the monsterous brain-eating BASILISK. But instead of turning me to stone, the hunbacked Sasquatch TURNED ME!"
Beast Boy stood on top of a log pointing to himself. "Yes! The Beast Boy you see before you was born from the bite of a radioactive unicorn from another dimension!"
The campers stared up at the changeling, processing the radical story he just finished. Beast Boy cleared his throat, unsure why everyone was so quiet. He looked down to the young women next to him, who had her head in her hands and shaking it.
"Beast Boy there is so much wrong with that story it's not even funny." said Raven into her hands.
"Story?" One of the campers with glasses and a grey hoodie got eveyones attention. "I thought you were telling us your 'secret origin'?"
"Cryptozoologist?" asked Cyborg with a brow raised. "I thought you said your parents were BIOlogists?"
"Uh . . . " Beast Boy sat back down on the log tugging at his collar, then turned to the blonde on the other side of him. "Tough room."
Sarah Simms chuckled. "Your doing fine, Beast Boy." she whispered to him.
"And why were your parents looking for a Chupacabra in AFRICA? Their only native to Mexico, New Mexico, and some of Arizona and Texas." Drake Daniels was sitting on the ground with his back against a log, his arms wrapped around his girlfriends waist.
"And I thought Basilisks didn't eat brains?" said Kole as she cuddled closer to her boyfriend.
"I think we've picked on Beast Boy enough for one evening." Sarah said getting to her feet.
"But we want to here more 'secret origin' stories?" One of the campers whined.
One of the girl campers looked to Raven. "Miss Raven can you tell us your secret origin?"
The demoness gulped. "Uh . . . probably another time-"
Drake threw an idea into the ring. "We can try ghost stories-"
"NO!" Everyone in the campsite shouted simultaniously echoing throughout the mountains.
Drake sheepishly hung his head, then whispered in Kole's ear. "I thought you said kids like ghost stories?"
She looked back at him, her blue eyes glistening in the campfire. "Yes, FAKE ghost stories. Not ghost stories that end with you showing everyone the scar you got from a KILLER DOLL!"
Drake quietly hung his head with a pout. "That doll hurt by the way."
Sarah cleared her throat. "Maybe we should all get to bed." There was a wave of awe's among the young campers.
"Don't worry guys," Cyborg stood up next to Sarah, "we got one more day left so we'll get to go whatever you guys want." The kids were still moaning and whining as they went to their repective tents leaving just the adults around a dwindling campfire.
The blonde haired, blue-eyed beauty Sarah Simms took a seat next to Cyborg, her orange turtle neck sweater helping to keep the cool night air from chilling her to the bone. She flipped her blonde ponytail over her shoulder so she had a better view of the Titans. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys coming out here." said Sarah with a smile.
Both Cyborg's metal, and human insides melted at the sight of the young women's beauty displayed by just a simple smile. "Hey it was OUR pleasure." He glanced at the others. "Right guys?"
"No problem for me I LOVE camping." Kole said excitedly. "I'm glad you guys invited me."
Drake snickered. "Well I wasn't going to pass up a chance to spend a few days in the woods with you." Kole snuggled closer to the dragon knight, his arms holding her tighter, if that was even possible. They had been canoodling ever since they got to the campsite earlier that morning, but to be fair this WAS the first time they had been back together since they became offical a month ago. Gnark and Red Star were adament that Drake's life was too dangerous for her to be around so much, something Drake reluctantly agreed with so she was back at the Titans North with her team. Even though her team, but Gnark mostly, was worried about her, he was also comforted by the that fact that if ANYTHING happened to Kole, the offending party would have to deal with both Drake, the dragon knight, AND Landon, the king of demons.
That was another reason the Titans were able to have some time to go camping. Word had gotten around to the other villains of Jump City what had happened to Adonis, Dr. Light, Gizmo, and so on, thus many villains were TERRIFIED to mess with the Titans for fear of falling to a similar fate. So Jump City was a relatively calm place, still Starfire and Robin elected to stay behind while Cyborg, Beast Boy, Drake and Raven went camping with Sarah Simms and her kids.
The demoness in questions twisted her face at the couple. "Ugh, get a tent." she moaned
Both Kole and Drake looked at her like she was brilliant, but Sarah squashed that idea quickly. "No, no, no. We have seperate tents to set a good example for the kids." Both of them pouted, but later settled for cuddling by the fire, even though Drake's unique dragon powers made that a bit redundant.
"Dude I'm ALL for camping. I did it all the time when I was with the Doom Patrol." Beast Boy announced, then he cast a glance to the dark girl beside him, who was dressed in a blue hoodie, and black sweatpants. Her eyes were closed as she sat quietly taking in the warmth of the campfire. "C'mon Rae, aren't you glad you came with us?"
She cracked an eye open to him. "I came out here for peace and quiet to help get my powers back under control, but I have yet to have ANY quiet time."
"Awe come on Rae. This is way better then just sitting at home meditating all day. We went hiking, watched some birds, made some campfire food, told stories. What's not fun about this?"
She took a deep breath, sure she was having fun, but she had to be careful. When she got her powers back they were completely out of control and she had to meditate for at least a day and a half to get them under some kind of stability, but even then the slightest thing sent her over the edge. This was the first time in a month she stepped out of the tower, and she was still unsure about being out and about, but she was going crazy in the tower and HAD to get out. She figured this would be pretty safe though, and so far she was doing fine. That is however until a certain someone made her . . . feel.
"Raaaaaaaven." Beast Boy said in a sing song voice, nudging Raven with his elbow. She turned to look at him and with a wiggle of his eyebrows added, "You know your having fun." She glared at the changeling. The irritating, bothersome, adorable changeling. His emerald irise's glowing softly in the glow of the fire, his smile warm and inviting, his arms bare, from the T-shirt he was wearing. Those arms that held her, that saved her, that made her feel safe, desired-
CRACK!
Everyone jumped when they heard the sounds of a tree splitting in half just a few yards away and falling with a thundering crash. Raven hurridly got to her feet, facing away from her friends . . . from him. "I'm going to bed." She scurried off to the girls tent, zipping it tightly behind her.
Beast Boy was on his feet. "Raven wai-"
Cyborg placed a large hand on his shoulder. "Let it go man." Beast Boy's ears drooped as he watched Raven disappear into her tent. He could hear her shuffling about, whispering her mantra to center herself, but he could have sworn she was slightly choking up as well. He was so close. That night on the roof. He was so close and her powers just HAD to come back. Since then she had been distancing herself from everyone again . . . from him and it tore at his heart.
"Is Raven ok?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah," Cyborg sat back down next to her, "she just has, power issues . . . "
Beast Boy, still looking at the tent longingly, placed his hands in his pockets. "I'm-uh-gonna go for a walk." He started off down the trail.
"You sure man!" Cyborg called out.
"I can see in the dark, and can turn into any animal I want, I think I'm okay." Beast Boy didn't intend for it to sound that harsh, he was just frustrated. Here he was FINALLY getting close to Raven, and she had to pull away. But there was NO denying it, he was crazy about her, but now . . .
Cyborg watched saddly as his best friend faded into the darkness. He shook his head. "Poor guy . . . "
"I feel just as bad." Drake said. "It was my spell that took her powers."
"Yeah but you didn't know they would get closer or anything."
Cryborg's words meant little to Drake. Every time he saw Beast Boy slump away because of his failed attempts with Raven he blamed himself. "I think I'm going to turn in to." Kole groaned slightly as her boyfriend stood up from their comfortable spot, but seeing as he was leaving she decided to head to bed as well. They kissed each other good night and went their seperate ways, leaving the metal teen and Sarah Simms alone.
It was awkward for a moment or so, since there was something that they needed to discuss, but neither wanted to.
"So . . . " Sarah started.
"So . . . " Cyborg was looking anywhere, but her at this point. "Look Sarah I'm-uh . . . sorry I pushed you away . . . I was just . . . "
"I know. I mean I know why you did . . . your life has gotten pretty crazy since we first met huh?"
They both shared a small laugh. "Yeah. I still remember that day when you . . . saved my life, and the life of my friends." Cyborg slowly turned his head to look at her. She had her legs up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees looking into the fire.
She smiled. "Yeah. I still can't believe I hit someone with a truck." More silence, but slowly it was getting to be a comfortable silence. "I know you guys have a rough life-"
"This isn't about the whole 'pushing you away to protect you' kinda thing. I mean heck one of the guys that attacked Raven is a vegetable, and a guy that tried to rape Kole is . . . well I don't know where he is, but Drake said he'd be begging for death by the end of the day."
Sarah stared at him with large blue eyes. "Drake has some . . . interesting friends."
Cyborg chuckled. "You've met Landon, he-uh-grows on ya." She shrugged looking back at the fire, Cyborg taking a deep breath. "Sarah . . . I didn't push you away for the cliché keep you safe reason. I pushed you away because I was scared. I mean, you were the first person outside of my team that looked past the circuits and metal and saw me for who I really am, and I was afraid you'd wake up one day and . . . "
She released her legs and turned her whole body to look at him, her mouth in a frown and her eyes narrowing. " 'Wake up one day and' . . . what? So you as a freak? Monster? You FIGHT monsters, and you would seriously think I would put them on the same level as YOU! If you thought that Cyborg then you don't KNOW me at all." Cyborg hung his head in shame, but a pair of warm hands cupped the sides of his face turning his head to look at her. "Cyborg, you may have a heart of metal and wires, but you have the WARMEST heart I have ever met, and THAT'S what I care about. That's what matters to me."
She held his head a moment longer, her words piercing his metal heart producing a feeling of foolishness for the way he behaved and how he treated her. He felt a lump begin to form in his throat. "Sarah . . . I'm-" His words silenced when she crashed her lips to his. His organic and metal eye shooting to the size of dinner plates at her boldness.
She released the kiss. "Just don't do it again." She stood up, and walked the short distance to the girls tent, leaving a stunned Cyborg staring at the spot where Sarah just was . . . and he stayed that way for a LONG time.
At her home in Gotham City, a young women with red hair was lying in her door way, a pool of her own blood flowing freely from a gunshot wound in her abdomen. On the wall next to her were written two words.
HA . . . HA . . . They were written in her blood.
That's right everyone we're doing this! For those of you who read regularly you'll know I've been doing rewrites of my previous works leading up to this one. Now while Feelings is a COMEPLETE redo, the others will have minor edits. One of the edits that will be done is the addition of Sarah Simms and the building of her character and Cyborgs relationship. I will keep you up to date personally by any changes that will be made to the previous stories and how they will effect the story line. If there are things you have noticed that need to be added or taken away don't hesitate to let me know. Adrinsane as already been a huge help in this process so far.
Again read and review and we'll see ya next time.
