Okay, I'm tired of staring at this. Given my very limited knowledge of Teen Titans, my writing skills, etc., I think this is sadly the best it's going to be.
I do not own Teen Titans or anything associated with it.
Light and Dark … or Dark
Raven hit the warehouse wall hard and grunted as she slid down to the floor.
"Ha! Is that all you got?" Jinx taunted.
Raven growled, and her eyes opened with a furious white glow. She was trying very hard to keep her emotions under control, but it could be so difficult during battle. It didn't help that Jinx had such a grating and taunting personality.
Jinx threw an indifferent glance over her shoulder to the raucous fight behind her before snidely commenting, "Too bad your team's getting their butts kicked. Looks like you could use a little help."
"I don't need help!" Raven snapped back, and several crates in the near vicinity suddenly exploded in starbursts of splinters.
"Ooh, tou-chy," Jinx taunted, foolishly unfazed.
Raven gritted her teeth and threw her clawed hands forwards, a telltale black glow surrounding them and shooting out towards Jinx. The nimble villain easily dodged and frustratingly continued to hop around through flips and cartwheels to dodge all of the other black-glowing projectiles that Raven sent her way.
Raven jumped to her feet and pressed forward, continuing to harry Jinx with whatever debris Raven could find to throw, but Jinx kept dodging or using her own powers to deflect the projectiles. The whole time Jinx kept that insufferable smirk on her face while Raven's teeth clenched harder and harder together in growing rage.
"Can't you do anything?" Jinx remarked between flips.
A ferocious snarl escaped Raven.
KILL!
Raven abruptly stopped where she was hovering a few feet above the ground and shut down, staring blankly into the distance as she drifted back to the floor and tried to control her emotions. That thought, that nearly overwhelming need for violence, it had been her demon half coming forward with more strength than she wanted it to have, and only the surprise of its abruptness had allowed her to stop it in its tracks like she had done. She could still feel it, though, clawing in the back of her mind to be let loose to wreak utter destruction. Her anger was giving her demonic side too much power.
A large violet heel came out of nowhere as Jinx's platform shoe slammed into Raven's face. A moment of empty, black vision clouded Raven's mind, and she felt herself fall to the floor on her side with an oomf. Her vision quickly cleared, but it felt like the bone structure of her left eye and cheek had caved in, and she raised a hand to her face as if to check that it was all still whole.
"You're pathetic," Jinx said as she stood over Raven with her pallid hand on her hip and a haughty look on her face. "I could have taken you down with my eyes closed."
"I was trying not to hurt you!" Raven snapped back, her anger returning almost full force. There was something about being hit in the face that was an automatic piss-off, and her demon raged in her mind again to be let free.
Jinx propped both hands on her hips to support her hearty laughter at that one, and she leaned down to taunt, "You hurt me? Not even in your dreams…or nightmares. Whatever it is someone like you has."
Raven growled and threw out a glowing hand, but Jinx caught Raven's wrist before Raven could do anything.
"Face it, princess, you're nothing without your team to help you," Jinx said.
Snap!
Raven growled with inhuman ferocity, and the surge of power that burst forth at her will was enough to simultaneously lift Raven to her feet and to blow Jinx back into a nearby tower of crates. Four lurid eyes watched the villain crash through the boxes, but before Jinx's momentum could end and leave her somewhere in the middle of the pyramid, Raven rushed forward with demonic speed to snatch the still flying Jinx in the merciless grasp of a claw. Holding Jinx by the neck, Raven changed the villain's direction and slammed Jinx down with such force that Jinx crashed through the boxes beneath and still had enough momentum to slam into the concrete floor and crack it. Gravity was catching up enough to try to collapse the pile of crates on top of the two pale creatures trapped within, but the aura of power surrounding Raven was enough that the debris crashed around her and not on her as she hovered. She watched the wooden pieces and random broken items fall to bury Jinx before Jinx even had the chance to open her eyes, but it wasn't enough for Raven. Her fangs clenched together, and Raven's entire body tensed with pent up violence as she imagined her preferred image of seeing herself shred Jinx into bloody pieces of chunky flesh, stringy ligaments, and hard bone.
A snarled scream—or maybe an animalistic roar roughly escaped Raven's throat, and she shot down through the debris like it wasn't even there until she once again held Jinx in her claws. The villain's eyes were still closed, and Raven stared down with dissatisfaction as her power burst forth again. Somewhere in her mind she was aware that she had blown the whole pyramid of crates into smithereens that shot out in all directions, but her full attention was on her prey, waiting for Jinx to open her eyes and become aware of what was about to happen to her. Raven's demon wanted to see the suffering, wanted to relish the agony.
"Raven, no!" came a cry from the side.
Though the male voice was familiar, it did nothing to distract Raven, and her claws sank deeper into Jinx's shoulders.
Something slammed into Raven's side. She was deep enough into her transformation that she hardly felt any pain, but the force was enough to throw her rolling across the floor. She quickly came out of her roll on hands and knees and snapped into a ready crouch, a growl ripping across her lips as her four eyes stared down the masked intruder. With one knee up and the other leg stretched out to the side, he had one hand planted on the ground in front of him while the other held a steel staff behind his back. Even with his eyes hidden, Raven could see that his face was grim and determined.
More importantly, he was thus defensively posed in front of her prey.
Get out of my way! Raven wanted to command, but it only came out as another ferocious growl.
"Raven, don't. This isn't you," he said in slightly softer tones.
Her growling fell away at the gentle, familiar voice. This male wasn't just some obstacle; he was Robin.
Robin…
Memories flowed through Raven's mind, and as they did, the demon lost its dominance there. She slowly calmed, her body relaxing, her claws turning back into delicate hands. She blinked, and her eyes returned to normal. Raven slowly straightened, and she fought down the vestiges of her demon side. The after effect was kind of like crashing after an adrenaline rush, and she suddenly felt weak and lightheaded, though she did well to remain standing there as if nothing were wrong.
Robin slowly stood and held his staff in a more relaxed grip at his side, but he didn't move towards Raven or say anything more to her. She could only stand there and return his stare while she silently tried to recuperate.
"Dude, Raven, what happened?" came a raspy voice.
The new voice snapped Raven out of her stare, and she looked to the side to see Beast Boy scratching the back of his head as he looked over the incapacitated and bloody Jinx. Movement made Raven aware of others as more heroes and villains joined the destructive scene. The fighting had apparently stopped, and both sides stood in shock around the epicenter of Raven's explosive rage.
Raven's eyes scanned the onlookers. Her friends were able to meet her gaze, but no one else could. Mammoth, Billy Numerous, and even Kyd Wykkyd all looked away. Raven's eyes lingered on Gizmo simply because he was the last one they fell on, and the expression of fear that shot over his small face would have been comical in a different situation. He quickly lifted his hands in front of him and waved them back and forth as his jetpack pulled him farther from Raven.
"Uh, we give up!" Gizmo cried out in his squeaky voice.
Raven had not realized how empty the demon's parting influence had left her until Gizmo's reaction caused her to feel a spark of some emotion where she otherwise would not. In fact, she was now aware that she was trying to feel several emotions, but she wasn't sure what they were. It was like hiding different objects beneath a thick quilt then trying to identify what they were by running her hands over them: She could feel that they were there, knew the general shape of them, but couldn't quite identify each one. Was that shame? Guilt? Anxiety? Fear?
Even her numb versions of emotions were too much, and Raven closed her eyes and turned her face away. She had not meant to give in to her emotions and her demon heritage; it had just happened.
A gentle but firm hand on her shoulder elicited her to open her eyes and look into Robin's mask. His expression appeared stoic, but she could feel the concern rolling off of him.
"Maybe you should head back, and we'll finish up here," Robin gently offered.
Raven only nodded, agreeing that she should leave as soon as possible, and a circle of the floor turned liquid black beneath her as she sank into it. She saw once again the concerned expressions of all her friends before she slipped completely through, and those dull emotions she almost felt before turned more piercing as they came on more strongly.
After traveling through the ether and phasing back into her dark room, Raven walked to the middle of her floor and immediately hovered up into the lotus position for meditation. She was trying very hard not to think about what she had done or even what she had almost done. It had been a long time since she had lost control like that, and the power and virulence of the outburst were enough to upset her.
And the graphic violence…
The lingering emotions from the ordeal were gaining too much strength, and books and other various objects around her room were trembling or idly flying about at the mercy of her tumultuous powers.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven chanted with a furrowed brow.
You're nothing without your team to help you, Jinx's words echoed in Raven's head.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
A surge of anger directed at Jinx but also at herself caused the last word to come out more forcefully, and a book promptly exploded in a littering of pages. Raven gritted her teeth, and one of her eyebrows twitched with the effort of calming down, but she was probably as much of an emotional wreck at the moment as her tranquil nature could be. This wasn't going to be easy, and frankly, she could use a little help. These emotions were not merely going to lie back and do as she said.
With that thought, Raven telekinetically turned on her modest stereo, and since her iPod was already wired to it, she easily sifted through the songs in her mind before making the iPod play the first one that she thought of to help her calm down.
The song started off with slow but heavy guitar, and for awhile she thought it would be too slow. Raven was looking for something to help her calm down, yes, but the song kind of needed to meet her halfway to get there. The guitar picked up a little, but it still wasn't enough. She tried to listen patiently as the singer's lorn voice finally joined the thick guitar, but just as she was considering switching to another song, the chorus hit.
As the melody and the words filled the darkness, wove into it, and surrounded her, she knew this song was the correct choice after all. Her emotions smoothed out beneath the soothing song, and her spirit took on a lighter quality. She even found the objects around the room to be flowing and bobbing along to the music instead of flying erratically about.
Too soon the chorus evened out again into the heavy melody from before, but this time it was no task at all to wait through it. Raven didn't bob her head to the beat, but her aura fluctuated in unison with it like the ocean answering the call of the moon. Then the chorus returned, and she was somehow both settled and invigorated by the music. It gave her what she needed, so this time she was ready for it when the chorus faded out again.
Music does soothe the soul, Raven thought to herself when the guitar solo took off, and not only her aura, but the whole ambiance of the room seemed to flow with the music. It was perfect.
The song eventually returned again to the constant, uncomplicated guitar riffs, and their simplicity and uniformity seemed to add to her growing stability. Raven breathed in the slow words when the singer joined the guitar again, and when she breathed out, it was like serenity settled upon her to stay. The books and other items gently settled back into their places.
This time when the chorus hit, she paid closer attention to the lyrics and relished every one. Darkness was beautiful to her, and so these words held their own allure. A sort of smirk that was almost a smile graced her lips, for she would even dare to say that the morbid poeticism described her.
Light and dark.
After all, Raven was of Arella and Trigon, of Azarath and demon blood, and if that wasn't both celestial and hellish, then she didn't know what was.
The song ended and took with it a sigh from Raven. Her existence was basically a paradox, built on both light and darkness. She could be both or neither, all at exactly the same time, and it didn't take a genius to see that such a way of life could become very, very complicated and strenuous. As much as she hated her father, Trigon, and didn't want to be like him, she had to admit that her life would have been a lot easier if she had simply been one side or the other, even if that meant she had to be completely dark.
Dark or light. A citizen of Azarath or a demon child. Why did she have to be both? Sometimes it damn near rendered her apart.
Raven sighed again and prepared to meditate now that silence filled the room. It did no good to question one's existence like this since there was no such thing as throwing back a life and demanding a new one.
Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Aza—light and dark. Raven's eyes popped open as she thought about it. Light and dark. Light and... Light or dark.
That half-smile-mostly-smirk returned to her face, and she closed her eyes.
Light or dark. What an amusing thought.
AN: Okay, so it has the potential to have more chapters added, but I don't know if it's worth it. I don't know if I made the characters too--what is that term? OOC?--so I don't know if I'm just ruining it.
Also, I at least know that the series never had a music theme tied to Raven, but I kind of thought it should have. Music does soothe the soul, right? And sorry if that part was a little boring, but I was trying to follow the guidelines of the site (no lyrics) while still being descriptive enough to give the feel of the song for Raven. If you're curious about what song it was, I don't think there are rules agains titles and artists, so: "Of Stars and Smoke" by Candlemass. If you've never heard the song before, please make it to the chorus before deciding if it's too slow. : )
Anyways, I hope I didn't mess up any of the musical terms on top of all of that. I did actually have piano lessons for six years, but despite my teachers' best efforts, I stubbornly refused to learn any theory. : )