Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show or comic.
Forewarning: I have not read the comics for this, so don't be disappointed if I get a fact wrong or I change the course of a certain event that might be in the comic. This is a FanFiction after all.
With that said, enjoy.
I am the last survivor from my home place. I, myself, should have been dead, too. How lucky am I being alive now, but that's all I am when I seem to only survive. I am not living though I want to try. I'd like the life I wanted to have despite the idea that life is never fair and even the best don't get what they want. I am...
… Raven... … Slade...
… and I will try living the way others do. I will laugh and I will cry, I will joyously play and I will blissfully sleep. I will now live this life, this second chance, to its fullest, but I will remain dark for I am familiar of its grasp and have known little of the light and I will still...
… fight crime... … break the Teen Titans...
… and will relish in it.
"Oh, my dear Titans." The armored villain chides from his high standpoint on the very top of a lonely pole at the pier, an important imported package tight in his grasp. "This has been delightfully... fun. We must plan another play date." All of the superheros pick themselves from the shattered docks, building, and concrete. "But I must go. Many things to do." The man turns his front to the water, but faces the alloy orange side of his mask toward the tired Titans. "Ta!" With that, he jumps from the pole into the clean water of the bay.
The supers could only watch as their greatest nemesis escape their hands of justice yet again. Robin, despite being extremely weak, growls and throws his fists on the ground. Starfire moves next to him, her hands on his back and a somber smile on her lips in attempt to calm her leader. Beast-Boy sighs as he tries to untangle his limbs without getting Cyborg's torn parts scratching the shiftling's skin. He looks over at his best friend, seeing that he's welding himself together as best he could. Raven overlooks everyone as she heals herself with her powers. It was moments like this when she wishes that all the Honorary Titans were with them. Slade has become much too powerful after he regained his flesh and blood from her father, Trigon. Once a demon touches someone, they become part demon and Slade is the perfect example of the end results.
And what happened to the villain led to the Titans' defeat once again. If it weren't for the other crooks and thieves, Jump City would certainly lose faith in the team. He doesn't want to admit it, but Robin was thankful for the small-time crimes. It's a nice change of pace compared to fighting and/or stopping Slade and Red X, the two major threats to the Titans.
Cyborg, now temporarily fixed, stands up with an untangled animal morph slung over his shoulder. "Come on, y'all. Let's go home." As the shifter grunts in approval, Cyborg walks towards the T-car, pausing to see if the others are going to follow. Robin holds his stomach as Starfire helps him up, her own pains ignored for now when, suddenly, the ground beneath their feet turns black and shifts. They stare at the one who is the owner of the black energy.
"Neither of you are fit enough to move. We need our leader as well as we can keep him." A rare grin graces upon the cloaked woman. If she even slightly smiled, everyone found a reason to smile as well. All they had were each other and that's all that they needed. The Titans and the Honorary Titans remains a family through thick and thin and picking each other up after a fight always shows the care that bonded each other together.
Cyborg just finished three grueling hours of fixing himself proper in the den when Raven walked in from the infirmary. "How are they doin'?" He asks as he put away all of his tools and watches the dark member walk silently to the kitchen to pull a tea kettle and her mug from the cabinets.
"They'll be fine. Robin was in the worst condition. I had to work on him as soon as Starfire put him down." She fills the kettle and sets it on the stove, then turns around to face her friend. "He developed a concussion, slight head trauma, pulled and ripped muscles, several joint sprains, and minor internal bleeding. I've healed him as much as I could, but he passed out from the pain and healing combined. I don't expect him to wake until tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Raven goes searching for her herbal teas as she continues with the others information. "Beast-boy had several ripped tendons and bruised bones. I was able to reconnect the tendons, but he has to heal the rest by himself. Because of Star's resilience to many things, she just has a ton of bruises and low energy, but she seems better now that we're home and I told her that Robin'll be fine."
Cyborg joins her by the stove, his arms full of food that he collected while Raven was talking. "You know, I'm glad that we're back home, too. I have a horrible feeling that Slade will always be a thorn in our sides, but don't worry Rae." He sets down the food and rests a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get him eventually." With a warm smile, Cyborg begins to cook food for the others to bring their spirits up. Raven takes her kettle from the stove to give the big guy all the space he needs and pours the steaming water into her mug with a honey chamomile tea bag. She places her black ceramic mug cover in place while she empties the rest of the water into the sink when Cyborg flips something in a pan.
"You hungry at all, Raven?" He asks, keeping an eye on the food while the young woman strolls around the counter to sit at one of the stools. She was about to answer 'no' when he mentions something about a Cheese Danish.
"Yeah, sure." After a few long moments, he expertly hands Raven a plate with a warm, slightly buttery pastry. She looks up at her friend. "Get that grin off your face." His hands fly up in surrender, still smirking before returning to the task at hand. The kitchen, then, is silent save the sound of Cyborg's cooking. Raven's thoughts are left to herself.
It has been three years since the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil and longer since they first became a menace to the Titans. It saddens the cloaked being to remember that she technically wasn't a Teen Titan anymore. Superman from the Justice League came by some time ago to offer Raven a spot among them, but she just couldn't accept it. No matter how old she is, she would stay with her friends here in Titan's Tower. Everyone has talked this over shortly after Superman left. They all decided to stay a team, as just the Titans when they're all old enough so that they could train the next generation of super teens. Then, once the new team could handle themselves, Robin's team will drop the Titan's name altogether and join the League at the same time.
The far future brings a smile to the dark woman. For such a long time, she thought that she was going to destroy the world, not help it grow into a better place. Raven feels that she couldn't be happier. Silently, she washes her dishes, gives the metal chef a pat on the shoulder, and leaves for her room. The rest of the day needs meditating.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..." A calm levitating body sits in the middle of an open book circle. "Azarath..." Her breathing collected and slow. "Metrion..." Nothing tenses or stiffens until a cool voice chants the last magic word along with her.
Purple eyes glaze over when she hears that the voice that was not from her human or demon self. The lulling voice is that of the man she hates so and he's near. "Where are you? Show yourself!" Raven hisses until a cold laugh fills her head.
"I'm safe in my home. You are merely hearing me. Ever since we served the same demon, we became connected and oh, how delightful this bond is now that I've mastered how to enter your mind. I see that the super children around the world put down an unknown competition to me. Thank you for that by the by. I couldn't have done it better myself. You children are useful occasionally."
"Get... out... of... my... head!" Raven growls, pulling up mental walls to block him and throws out a few mind feelers to pinpoint where he's hiding in the city. Maybe she could find where the snake is and destroy his base.
"I will, sweet Raven, but know this: I'll be back shortly and you can't stop me."
A few breaths' moments pass and Slade's presence is gone before Raven could find the source. She lets out a slow sigh, but with it comes a memory.
A dark street, lit only by scarce streetlights, passes her by when a sharp shock of loneliness shakes her form as the sky clouds over and the first of many drops broke upon the shadowed surface of the earth and her filthy skin. Raven feels as if she's been alive for a while now through this memory. Raven passes several empty alleyways when a window catches her glance. She looks into the darkened glass of the closed store. The shadow between two lights falls over the reflected face, showing only a faint outline of the face and hair of the true person who experienced this memory, a man with a single eye, the very man who is harder to catch than a shadow in broad daylight.
Raven shakes herself from the memory, her body resting on the floor and the candles about the room low and dying. So Slade wasn't always who he is now. In fact, he was just like her: alone and unsure of where to go next. If it weren't for Starfire escaping the Goranians enabling the lost and lonely superheros to work together, Raven would have remained friendless and most likely have allowed her father to rule this dimension. She found what Slade didn't and she pitied the villain, but shakes the feeling away before it could cloud her mind. That villain is nothing more than an empty man hiding behind schemes and a mask. After everything he's done to her teammates and the city, he deserves no pity or even a spark of humanity. Slade is just a shell of what was once a good human and a shell he remains.
As she leaps to her feet, a sigh and the rustle of fabric softly fills the desolate room. A black cloak now hangs, ready to wear again for tomorrow's events. A slight grin dances upon pale lips as her own memory of turning of adult age crosses her mind. On Azarath, at a certain level of wisdom or age, the robes or cloaks change color naturally. At a young age, Raven received blue because of her constant meditation and learning to control the demon inside and for the longest time, that color had stayed with her. Of course, there were some moments when she wore white, but it couldn't stay for long when the moment passed and reality set back in. Now, though, her cloak's near shadow shade symbolizes the darkest time of life before enlightenment comes and stays. The grin only exists for the idea that black always was her best shade, but it fades as Raven removes her cuffs and belt to set near her cloak.
It's time for sleep, not memory retrieval. She slips under her soft covers and curl up for the night's rest. I'll have time for smiling and remembering later. Her eyes then dull and close for the night.
Grotesque faces mingle with glittering fools wandering around the large demonic decorated room with bone-chilling melodies kissing the ears of the unsuspecting or willing. A primal dance has taken up the main action with the dark corners occupied by lustful gestures. And amidst all of this are orange and black streamers and shaped confetti taken from their original spots and thrown at something or someone else. An ordered chaos on the eve of the wandering souls, the only time when the veil between worlds and dimensions are at their thinnest. To some, it's an excuse to become as outlandish as they wish, to others it's a night of gathering. To a selective few, it is the night when they can truly be themselves. It is as so for a dark-haired half-demon on this Halloween night.
She barely pays attention to the fool humans around her in a school gymnasium, their faces a mere blur to her. The seasonal tunes falls upon deaf ears since the music isn't chilling enough for her. In fact, this entire event seems nothing more than a mindless, immature gathering where high hopes for getting something in return manifested. Disgusted, Raven begins to turn to leave so that she would never have to look at another poor rendition of characters from fiction or history when a flash of copper catches her vision. Instinctively, she turns to call her team over when she realizes that she had come here alone even though she couldn't recall how she got to this place. She nervously feels for her communicator at her hip, but comes up empty. Quietly gasping in shock, she looks down to make sure that it did not fall only to see that she wasn't even in her uniform. In fact, she's in costume with everyone else only... hers could actually pass for Morticia Addams. Then, someone speaks to her.
"Oh, Tish. Cara Mia. Long have I been waiting for you." The disembodied mocking voice comes from everywhere and nowhere. The music dies and the people around her still go through their night as if nothing was going wrong. Fearing for their safety, Raven grasps at the shoulders of the nearest couple and urges them to leave, that someone evil is here. Two pairs of eyes understand her, but no voice comes from their moving lips. That unnerves the powerful woman, but she continues to tell the couple to get everyone out and to hurry.
"You know, Cara Mia, doing that would be entirely pointless." A slow hum from the voice occupies the now silent room. "Actually, you'd be helping me. Continue doing as you please, then."
Black flames ignites her eyes and fists. "Show yourself, you bastard!" The crowd certainly take haste in leaving when the Titan stood in an attack stance. Raven faced those who were staring, her black abysses scarring them for life. "Call the rest of the Titans! Tell them where I am!" The moment the spectators see the burning black flames, they flee knowing how dire the situation is. Raven sighs in relief that innocent people will not get hurt. The civilians will live another day of their lives no matter how worthless some seem at times.
"No, Raven!" The woman growls to herself. "Every life is important. Don't let Anger control you." A split moment of four crimson eyes appear before her, the voice of Anger laughing at her, trying to taunt her. The woman hisses until all air is out of her lungs and fresh air is slowly taken back in, leaving out the internal problems. The flames dissipate, but her stance was still poised, waiting, searching.
"Oh, my dear." The voice speaks condescendingly. "You can't just seek me out like you once could, otherwise you'll just find yourself."
"Slade..." A whisper escapes her lips.
"Very good, love. Interesting to know that a part of you will always be in me. A dash of memories, a taste of your nightmares, a pinch of your thoughts. What was it you said to your mechanical friend years ago? You put your soul into whatever you're moving? We're a part of each other... Raven. We have been for a while now, ever since you took time to toss me around in the deep, dark catacombs. How does it feel to know that you've bonded with someone whom you despise?"
"Where are you, coward? I want to see your repulsive eye when the rest of the Titans come in." Raven shrieks, her hands glowing with the black energy once again. A dry laugh swirls around the lead air. "Wha... what's so funny, Slade?" Her powers falters.
"The Titan's are not coming, I'm afraid." The dark woman breaks her stance to take a few steps to the open doors of the party room. "You see, my dear..." The doors suddenly slam closed, allowing only the moonlight from several windows to hardly illuminate the room. "... all of this is but a dream." Horribly heated hands wrap themselves around her upper arms, dragging her backwards to the man who is causing this nightmare. "And in this dream, dear, I want to talk to you... unless you'd rather do something else to pass the time." The villain's mask sets itself next to Raven's face, his warm breath caressing her neck as he dryly chuckles.
"Get away from me, Slade." She says through gritted teeth. "I don't want to have anything to do with you."
A light chuckle not of evil purpose, but not unkind either, came from the twisted man. "It's far too late for that, Raven. I want everything to do with you. We're connected and this is why we must talk."
"Screw that!" She struggles from his grasp and manages to take a few steps away until her costume tangles around her feet. Damn the Lady Addams for such a long gown. Raven mentally berates as she gets off of her arms that absorbed her falling blow to the dance floor. Her hands sting and her wrists ache from the sudden jolt of weight. Angry that she's in pain, she commands her dark powers to rip the dress until her calves are freed from the constraining fabric. Remembering the villain, Raven sits up, about to shoot out her power when she notes that he probably moved while she fell and is nowhere in sight. She scans the area in front of her, then jumps up on her knees to twist her body so she can face the area behind her and still couldn't see the man. "Present yourself or so help me... I'll send you to a dimension that has poisonous air and laugh while I watch you die."
"As you wish, my dear." The illicitly smooth articulation of his words snake their way to her from his hiding place until he springs from the dark and pushes her to the ground with her legs caught underneath her. A yelp of pain releases itself from her throat from the surprise lunge. His arms create a vise that she has no hope of escaping from without using her magic. "Will you listen now?" He hisses threateningly.
"I don't have a reason to, so get off!" She throws her body upwards, pushing his hands off of the ground giving her enough room to straighten her legs and begin sliding out from under him until his hands latch onto her waist and pulls her back under him. "Damn you! Let go!" She yells, punching and clawing with as much ferocity as she could manage without her magic. His hand shoots out and catches both her wrists and holds them above her head.
"No, Raven. You stupid girl, I'm not trying to hurt you. Not this time." He says softly, still sounding very menacing, but that's just how his voice is.
"I'm not a girl you can push around anymore, Slade." Raven says, deadpan. "I don't care if you're not trying to hurt me. I just don't have a reason to listen to you or be so disgustingly near you."
"But you won't risk using your power to move me from you else you'll strengthen our connection, so you have no choice but to listen. Not that magic would work in this dream." His half-copper mask looks down upon her and her torn Gothic costume. "Besides, I wouldn't dream of pushing you around anymore. Unless you want me to seeing as you're a woman now." His voice, then, takes a sultry tone sending shivers along Raven's spine. His left hand ghosts the air just along the curves of her body. It's close enough to feel his heated body from his physical activity of trying to catch her.
"Just tell me what you wanted to, Slade." Raven spits, wanting to get away from this man as soon as she can and couldn't stay still under his large frame.
He, suddenly, makes a low lustful groan as his head lowers to hers. "You keep moving like that and I'll do something we'd both regret. I am, after all, male and am not afraid to take what I wish." She stills herself despite her rising want to escape. "Now, then... Since we're bonded, I have a request to make and don't you dare defy me because I can and will hurt you. We can see each others memories and thoughts that we have made since we bonded. If you see anything of mine that would be revealing, I will harm you and be utterly unpleasant. You keep your silence and I will do the same for you. I highly doubt that you want any of the minor criminals to know about your little secrets and take advantage of you like I have. Do we have a deal?"
Raven sneers, knowing that the damned man is smirking underneath his mask because agreeing to the bargain would make her a liability towards her team, but also be her ticket out from her fleshy prison and this nightmare. "Fine! I'll keep my lips sealed if you do the same." She can still fight the villain.
The mask gets even closer, his sweet breath flowing from behind the metal. "A better phrase would be to simply watch what you say. Keeping one's lips 'sealed' is too severe a deal. Who knows when you might have to open your mouth." His gray-blue eye stares deep into her purple ones as she releases a soft sound when his left hand finds a tender area upon her neck. "Moments like this, dear Raven, is a perfect example. I do so enjoy it."
"Damn you..." She whispers, afraid to speak any louder.
"I've already been damned, Cara Mia." He whispers back. "You need to wake up now."
A sliver of golden light streaks across her gray skin as she slowly opens her eyes to the new day. Memory of the dream is all but forgotten and it's something that she can't afford to forget. Whether she wants to or not, anything against the villain would be a knife into her back as well. She can't risk the safety of the team for her own vendetta against Slade and she can't afford to obsess over him as Robin did. It's a hard truth, but Slade is right and hopefully he'd keep his end of the deal.
She sits up in her bed, glaring at the beauty of the coming morning. "Damn him..." She brings her knees up to her chin, breathing deeply. "... and damn me, too."