A Dustland Fairytale
A/N: So it's been a while. Um… this story tries out something new for me. I decided to try telling a story within a story. I'm not sure how it turned out so reviews would be greatly appreciated. I hope you like what you're about to read.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I have no claim on the Teen Titans or anything affiliated to them. Oh but the title belongs to the Killers and is taken from their album Day & Age. So there.
Once upon a time there was a girl.
Raven wasn't sure but she didn't think that was how her story began. She may not know much but she knew that her story didn't follow the fairytale lines. She knew that if anything the beginning of her story should have been dark and stormy. But too many years had passed, and she'd been in the dark for so long, too long to remember, too long to be sure.
She was a sad little girl, with wide violet eyes, indigo hair and skin paler than snow.
Raven was no sad little girl. Her eyes were a tempestuous red and four in number. Her hair was so matted and ragged that the color was indescribable. And where once pale skin may have lain was covered in blood-red runes. Symbols to tell the world who she was and who she belonged to.
The little girl was lonely. Her mother kept her locked away and the people of her home world feared her. Feared who she was, feared the blood that flowed through her veins. They wouldn't speak, wouldn't touch, and wouldn't look at the girl.
Raven couldn't recall if she'd ever been lonely. She tried but the answer danced beyond her memories reach, hid behind the darkness she'd known for so long now. And she knew no mothers. Knew no other home. But she knew fear. Fear was her friend, it kept the others from trying to hurt and harm her. It kept her in power, kept her safe.
The girl's father had cursed her when she was born. Cursed her with powers she couldn't control, couldn't hold back. Powers that wouldn't let her feel, let her live. Powers that let the monks of her world keep her chained to their temple as they tried to teach control and restraint to a child who only wanted to be free.
Restraint and control mean nothing to her. Raven only remembers the monks she killed that day. The day her memories start, the day the darkness begins. She knows it's not right, knows that before the darkness something else existed. But still it eludes her.
One day though the little girl got her wish. She got her freedom, although it came at a high price. But if she had to leave home to live and learn and love then so be it. It was worth it, the little girl knew it was. So away to Earth she flew, free as the bird whose mantle she carried.
Earth. Raven remembered Earth. Bright lights and loudloudloud noises. Voices everywhere and nowhere all at once. And so many emotions, so many people feeling these amazing wonderful things. So wonderful that even the memory of them was enough to set her head spinning.
The girl found her freedom in the strangest of places and ways. She found friends, an odd menagerie of people, who saw her darkness and loved her anyway.
Friends. For a brief moment the darkness disappeared and Raven saw them. The faces that she knew she should be familiar with. Electric green eyes that burned with the fire of the stars; a pale face hidden behind a dark mask; cocoa and sliver framing a glowing red eye. And an ever-changing blur of green, with eyes that held her stole her breath for a moment, an hour, a lifetime.
And then it happened. The darkness swallowed them back again. Soon, too soon they had passed beyond her reach. Soon, too soon they were gone.
The girl and her friends fought against evil. They fought to protect the Earth and its children from all who sought to harm it and them. They, she were good, fearless and strong.
Raven was not good. She was the strong, yes. And she was fearless, yes. But she was the daughter of the destroyer. No good lay in her blood. She wrought terror and destruction. She protected no one and saved no one. She was dark and she was deadly.
The girl and her friends survived many things together. They weathered betrayals and heartbreaks and loves and tears. They protected each other from their darkness. They even protected the girl from her demon father.
The idea of people with her through all her trials was foreign to Raven. She knew betrayal; it came to her in a form with blonde hair, blue eyes and traitorous intentions. Love was useless to her; she had no need for it. The demon stuck in her mind. She knew this beast. Trigon was a recognizable as the sun in the sky.
The girl believed that she was safe in this new life; believed that she was free of her father, free of his curse. Free to live, to love, to fly. Sadly she was wrong. Her father bid his time, and waited for her to let down her guard before he made his return. This time he was determined that he would get back his daughter.
And he did.
Raven saw the battle, knew the fight. She watched as the little girl's friends fell, one by one. She watched as the sad little girl, with eyes she was sure she knew, gave into her darkness in order to save and protect the light. Watched as the girl gave into Trigon, as she lost all that she had fought for.
The story that the people now tell is that the girl has been lost forever. The people of this wasteland whisper that she is gone, never to return. But the children murmur another story. They tell about how the girl's friends still believe in her. Still fight for her. Still want to save her and set her free.
Raven can feel the shift within. She can feel the darkness fading, lightening. She can see the cracks in the wall she's been kept behind for so long. Somewhere within her that lost little girl, with her purple eyes and her heart full of love is awakening, coming back to regain her light and overthrow the dark.
Once upon a time there was a girl. She was strong and good and brave but for a long time she was lost. Finally, finally she has been found.
A/N: So. That concludes this experiment with my writing. If you could kindly leave me a review (and please if you have critiques share them) I would truly appreciate it. Namaste.