Authors Note:
This is an introduction into the story, and it basically highlights the important parts of the episode "Birthmark" and sets the premise for the story while adding my own narrative to it. Don't be fooled, this particular chapter is 5 pages long. I've already begun writing chapter one, but I am definitely looking for suggestions, so if you have any, please feel free to review and let me know your suggestions.
"The report simply stated there was an intruder." Starfire stated, her eyes looking warily around her, scoping the warehouse for any signs of danger. Beastboy, sensing her anxiety, chirped in optimistically.
"Well whoever it is, we're going to totally kick their-"
However, his sentence was cut short by a break in his windpipe, cause by an abrupt stop by an obviously jolted teammate. Robin stood directly in front of him, holding his arm out instinctively. His body was tensed, adrenaline coursing through his veins. There was an impossible stillness in the air, one that Robin hadn't felt in over a year. Not since...
'No, it's not possible. There's absolutely no way...'
His worst fears were confirmed when a velvety, baritone voice laced through the air, breaking the silence
"It's been a long, long time hasn't it, Titans?"
Hellfire
Raven and Slade were catapulting toward a building, gaining speed at an alarming rate. She braced herself for the impact, slamming her eyes shut. She could feel Slade's tight grip on her shoulder blades, forcing her downward with all his weight with the help of gravity. They landed with a force of a small explosion on the rooftop, sending shingles and small chunks of brick flying everywhere. She used all her strength to shift his massive form off of her, using all her remaining willpower to shut out the pain, using her hands to gain momentum as she tried to escape. Adrenaline was slamming into her system, making her dizzy and nauseous. Her shaking hands gripped at the concrete of the rooftop, looking for any wedge or cranny that might aid her escape. Deep down, she knew this was futile.
Slade emerged from the explosion, showing no signs of slowing to Raven's dismay. A cloud of smoke billowed around him like a harbinger of death. She began to run, forcing her quivering legs to carry her as fast as they possibly could from the tall, gaunt figure behind her. He reached a cold, metallic hand toward her, easily grabbing her by the hood of her cloak. She tried to shake his grip from her, but he refused to let her go.
"What you have concealed, you will become." His voice bellowed from the rooftops. He ripped her cloak from her back, letting the small slivers of violet fabric float to the ground around her. Her leotard ebbed downward, tearing a large portion of her uniform off. She fell to the ground, letting her elbows catch her fall. Her moonlight skin glimmered, rejecting the light bearing down her exposed back. She felt a searing pain as the air struck her skin. The Mark of Scath bore into her skin, glowing a deep and foreboding red.
Against her better judgment, she turned to look at him. Her eyes were wide with fear and anger, her mouth was agape. He stood just behind her, his eye staring into her. He was far from finished with her. The message would be delivered.
"You have no other choice." His voice was demanding, like fathers would be. She felt a surge of anger pulse through her. How dare he talk to her like that, like someone who had power over her. Her eyes began to glow a fierce ivory as she pushed herself off the ground, ready for battle once more.
"No!" She yelled fiercely. Her voice reflected her rejection of her destiny. She ran toward him with all of her remaining strength, her entire body aglow with a brilliant black fire. She reached a small, yet powerful hand toward him, hell-bent on striking him. He, however, caught it with ease, almost laughing at the feeble attempt. Her hand was so small and weak compared to his. His right hand alone could have easily taken up her midriff. He had to admit he was impressed at the power behind the attack. He could feel the energy surging through her, connecting and battling with his own, causing a small electric shock to run down his spine. She was a cornered animal, beaten and bruised, ready to fight primal. She kept forcing her hand closer to him, her entire body shaking with force, angry that he could so easily deflect the blow.
"The message will be delivered."
His voice was soft and calm, so contrasted to the moment. It ran like thick velvet through her mind, sending a shiver down her back. There was a forceful, threatening quality to it. The fact that he remained so stoic only added more horror to the quality. The fact that he was genuinely frightening her made her fight him harder. She threw another hand toward him, but it became apparent rather quickly that this too was futile.
"Your destiny shall be fulfilled."
Suddenly, an immensely powerful shockwave pulsated through both their bodies. His hands shook as he held her own fragile body. She felt and incredibly powerful force run through her frame as she lost control. Her entire torso threw backward, and a red bolt of energy shot from her eyes. She yelled in fear, unable to place the sensation that had taken a hold of her. Lightning raced through her veins, paralyzing her muscles and disabling any voluntary movement. She felt the air around her grow cold, and her body felt more of the breeze than she invited. Her body burned with Scath, searing her pale skin. Her leotard unraveled itself, pulling and yanking upon its own threading. It ripped violently from her lithe frame, leaving her arms and entire midsection exposed, revealing an ancient and damning language written in blood upon her body. The small fragments of fabric that remained fell into shreds around her feet.
He held her delicate wrists tightly in his hand, keeping her body from seizing up and thrashing wildly. Unbelievable amounts of power were radiating off the couple, causing a ripple in the air as time stood still. The mixing of their energy, hers a right of birth, and his gift from Trigon was causing a catalytic event in the time chain. Day became night and back again as time raced forward at an impossible rate. Raven grit her teeth and yelped in pain as she felt a burning itch in her scalp, feeling the light tickle of her violet tresses gracing her back and bangs that had originally been short gaining length at an alarming rate, whipping against her face and neck. Her body began to ache and swell with the wounds of battle, and then heal themselves as time would have done normally.
Slade felt the surge of lightning as the energies collided, reveling in the dry and unbridled power that came from the young woman's body. Her long indigo hair swirled around her, her eyes wielded shut, gritting teeth to block out the pain of the moment. His eyes drifted to admire his handiwork, the Mark of Scath burning brightly, the tale of the end days imbedded into her lovely, glimmering ivory skin. He took heed to the fact that her clothes had fallen around her, his eye immediately drifting upward toward her pain stricken face.
Night fell around them, cloaking them in darkness and he released her wrists, allowing her frail body to fall to the ground onto her knees. Her arms instinctively fell around her waist, covering her exposed body. Her eyes were still clutched tightly shut as she dug her nails into her arms, wishing this away in vain. The surge had taken what little energy she had left out of her, leaving her weak and defenseless upon the ground. Pain seared throughout her entire body, as if someone had set her ablaze. She hesitantly opened her eyes, and beheld her skin in horror. Crimson, shining letters of a language long forgotten were engraved into her skin, blazing like hellfire. However, it wasn't long until her eyes were drawn upward toward the apocalyptic scene around her.
The sky was a terrible blood red, tainted by fires and smoke that blotted the land around her. Grand buildings and structures that once stood proudly in the sky like a beacon of hope and grandeur had crumbled and fallen like dominoes, leaving only the bare minimum of crumbled steel and brick in broken piles of rubble, remnants of what had once been. The skyline of the ocean had been replaced with bubbling vats of magma and spitting fire. To her absolute horror, the Titans Tower slumped over, a broken and degraded fragment of its true form. Windows had been heat-broken and its structure compromised by the lake of destruction surrounding it.
The people of Jump City were not but statues, their bodies forever imbedded into the Earth in their last terrible moment of living, their mouths and eyes widened in fear as they tried to escape their fate. They had been turned to pumice, and stood crumbling like fragile rocks falling from a cliff into a crevice. However, the site and took her last breath was the site of the Titans, her friends and family, engraved into stone as well. Twisted concrete vines held them forever into place, veining around their feet and arms that were clawing toward the sky for freedom.
Raven surveyed her surroundings in disbelief, refusing to take in the horrors. Her head swung from side to side, her eyes scanning rapidly for any signs of relief. She couldn't escape this nightmare, it was all around her. The creeping feeling of nausea clawed its way up into her throat once more, her lungs restricting and gasping for air.
"No… No!" She pleaded to the sky, biting her lip, holding back tears.
"Oh yes." That terrible voice cooed again, soft and terrible like a madman's lullaby. Slade. She had forgotten that he was standing near her. He allowed her eyes to take in the scene as he stepped toward her. She whirled toward him again, her eyes widened in fear. She became very aware of just how revealed she was and looked self consciously at him, putting her hand out in a vain attempt to keep him from coming any closer.
"Look at it," he seemed completely unaware of her exposed frame as he looked admirably around at the vision of death and destruction that held before him. "Drink it in. Behold the world you are destined to create."
In the distance, she saw the silhouette of her Father roaring victoriously to the sky, his massive body stepping on the rubble like a child in a playhouse. Her eyes narrowed in anger when she saw Trigon eying his new kingdom, and feelings of uncontrollable rage fell over her.
"No! I won't do it! This is just a vision! This can't be real!" She yelled. Her head pounded with a fierce pain as her emotions ran out of check. She grabbed her head, feeling faint, and staggered slightly. She felt herself begin to hyperventilate. Slade grabbed her shoulders to steady her, slithering his fingers in between her arms and her ribcage and pulling her close to his chest. He put his head down between her shoulders, and dug his fingers deeper into her skin when she tried to push away.
"Oh this is the future," he cooed. "Your future. It began the day you were born." He put his face closer to her ear and she felt his breath exit the holes in his mask onto her neck. "And nothing can stop it." He spoke the last sentence to her like one would speak to an intimate lover. "This will come to pass. I will make sure of it." He purred into her ear. "You're going to destroy the world, Raven…" She choked back tears as she felt him creeping closer to her. She could feel the warmth exhuming from his suit and onto her skin, sending a creeping wave of Goosebumps up her spine. "It's written all over your face." He gave a terrible and cruel laugh as she slammed her eyes shut again. She felt dizzy, and cold, but most of all alone. She gave a fierce exhale and struggled against him.
"NO!" She cried the sounds of her yell reverberating off the steel frames of the buildings and down into the city, breaking the deafening silence. Waves and waves of raw power flew from her body, sending ringlets of black fire out around her. Slade was sent back, caught up in her whirlwind of power. A gigantic plane of negative energy was sent out from her chakra, flying over the landscape and breaking up the apocalyptic vision. He watched as everything it touched was returned to the former state it had been several minutes earlier, the bloodied skies turning its normal nighttime hue of cerulean and the buildings were returned to their former glory. People became animate once more, looking unaware and blissfully ignorant to the nightmare that had been before them just seconds earlier.
He couldn't help but stand and admire her display of absolutely unabridged power. She was absolutely magnificent. Every pore of her glimmering skin radiated raw power and emotion, sending out a desperate message that even his cold heart could receive. Her deep purple eyes blinking back tears as she pleaded with forces unknown. Her long violet locks twirled unregulated around her, flowing with the wind and catching themselves on the torn fragments of her clothing that barely covered her mature form.
He had never seen this particular Titan show any form of emotion at all. She had always reminded him of himself in that aspect. She was always regulated, calm, and never allowed herself to be tricked easily into flights of frenzy, unlike his previous play toys Robin and Terra. This powerful display of pure emotion caught him off guard, and made an unawakened part of his body yearn for something he couldn't quite place. He wanted it for himself, he wanted her. He wanted to snuff it out. He wanted to end it, and crush it between his fingers. He wanted to destroy it. Nothing this lovely pure should be able to exist. Not in this cold and corrupted world.
As quickly as she rose, she fainted and quickly hit the steel rooftop. She was knocked out cold, too weary to carry on or defend herself. He picked her up by the small of her back, cradling her fragile neck in his large hand. When he had her standing, he held her back from the roofs edge by her arms once more. Her limp body fell loosely into his arms, her warmth pulsating into his metallic armor. Her hair whipped around lightly into the wind, catching the light of the moon on the violent purple strands. Her skin was illuminated still by the scarlet words written down her frame, the glow starting to fade lightly.
'Such a pretty bird.' Slade thought to himself as he held her frail body in his hands. 'Let's see if she can fly.' He pulled her closer once more, nuzzling his head into the crane of her neck once more.
"We'll be in touch." He told her. His words were cold and dry. His eye was devoid of emotion as he released his grip and let the young girl fall off the rooftop and toward the concrete. "Oh, and happy birthday."
Her hair billowing around her frame as she fell, her arms limply reaching toward the sky. He watched her as she plummeted toward the Earth. She shouldn't be allowed to live. Not here, not for this existence. He felt something strange as he watched her fall. Something he hadn't felt in a very long time. He felt pity.
He, however, wasn't surprised when he saw Robin swing from the rafters of a nearby building and scoop the damsel into his arms.
'Birds of a feather.' He thought to himself facetiously.
Robin looked back towards the rooftops for him, but he was already gone. He knew Robin would be more concerned about getting his little Raven to safety than he would be about hunting him down. If there was one thing Slade knew how to do, it was disappear.
He walked along the rooftops, back from whence he came to report his success. He pondered his "feelings" about the violet eyed woman. He prided himself on being devoid of emotion, and even more so on his hatred of the Titans. He had never so much as given a second thought to the witch before tonight. He also knew he had never seen the full extend of her power until then. He lusted after it, wanted it for his own. One could do a lot of damage with ability like that. It impressed him that she was able to hide such talent with such ease. He had never quite known who or what she was, but he had always figured it wasn't anything special. Another alien perhaps, or some sort of cliché radiation disaster. He had no idea she was the daughter of a deity. He never would have known if it hadn't been a stroke of luck. Had he known it sooner, he would have chosen her over that teenage hormonal wreck and imbecile Terra. None of it would matter soon anyways.
He laughed to himself, finding it somewhat ironic that someone who tried so hard to be such a good person was destined to be the harbinger of the apocalypse.